m 


PRINCETON,  N.  J- 


BV  601  .W372  1889 

Ward,  J.  H.,  1837-1897. 

The  church  in  modern  society 


Shelf.. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  MODERN 
SOCIETY 


BY 


JULIUS   H.  WARD 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 


Copyright,  1889, 
By  JULIUS    H.  WARD. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Ca7iihridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H,  O.  Houghton  &  Company. 


To 

HENRY  CODMAN    POTTER 

%i!s\)oj}  of  laetD  gorft 

IN  WHOSE  EPISCOPATE 

THE  CHURCH   IS   ENTERING  INTO  ITS    PROPER   RELATIONS 

WITH   MODERN    SOCIETY 

T///S   VOLUME 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED 


PREFACE. 


'HPHIS  book  is  intended  for  the  whole 
-^  Christian  family  in  this  country.  The 
comparative  study  of  the  truths  contained 
but  imperfectly  expressed  in  the  terms  of 
different  creeds  reveals  larger  agreements 
than  men  have  willingly  allowed ;  and 
when  Christianity  is  interpreted  helpfully 
and  constructively  in  the  light  of  these 
agreements,  the  Church  of  Christ  exerts 
the  organic  influence  in  the  social  life 
which  the  national  government  exerts  in 
the  political  and  economic  life  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  collective  church  has  this  large 
and  comprehensive  work  to  do,  and  the 
aim  of  these  pages  is  to  suggest  a  way  in 
which  it  may  be  done. 

Brookline,  Mass.,  October  2,  1S89. 


CONTENTS. 

¥— 

PAGE 

/.    Permanent  Institutions / 

//.  Church  Development  before  the  Reformation  i^ 

III.  The  Church  in  Modern  Life 25 

IV.  The  Church  in  Disintegration      .     ,     ,     ,  ^8 
V.    The  Church  in  the  World 30 

Vl.     The  Inclusive  Church 6^ 

Vll.  The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church       .     ,     91 

Vlll.    The  Church  in  the  Family no 

IX.  The  Church  among  the  People     .     .     .     .1^4 

X     The  Church  in  the  Nation 134 

XL  Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces       .   181 

XII.  Unity  through  Working /igreements     .     .2/0 


THE  CHURCH  IN  MODERN 
SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Permanent  Institutions. 

nr^HE  order  of  the  social  world  begins 
-*-  with  the  family.  At  first,  the  com- 
munity was  the  family  magnified  by  its 
growing  relationships.  The  church  was 
the  family  enlarged  in  a  spiritual  direction. 
The  earliest  human  society  grew  out  of  the 
fundamental  principles  and  the  historical 
development  of  these  institutions.  They 
represent,  under  varying  forms,  the  earliest 
organization  of  life,  and  are  capable  of 
that  modification  in  growth  by  which  the 
seed  is  traced  in  its  expansion  and  fruit. 
They  are  the  beginnings  of  primitive  so- 
ciety, the  constituent  and  permanent  ele- 


2  The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

merits  of  all  society.  Under  every  modi- 
fication which  history  records,  these  three 
institutions  have  retained  their  identity 
and  exerted  their  legitimate  and  intended 
influence.  They  are  divine  in  their  origin 
and  purpose,  in  the  sense  that  all  life  is 
said  to  be  divine.  They  are  found  in  the 
earliest  gathering  of  men  together,  and 
are  structural  in  the  social  and  spiritual 
economy  of  the  race.  The  personal  man, 
after  Adam,  has  his  root  in  the  family ;  the 
political  condition  grows  out  of  the  neces- 
sity for  order  when  men  are  living  in  com- 
munity ;  the  spiritual  life  of  men,  however 
personal  in  its  inward  intention  toward 
God,  finds  expression  in  an  institutional 
order  which  is  included  in  the  word  Church. 
In  the  earliest  Hebrew  times  the  family, 
the  community,  and  the  church  had  their 
essential  potency  and  meaning  in  a  single 
household.  The  functions  of  each  insti- 
tution existed  in  distinct  germs,  but  were 
often  exercised  by  one  and  the  same  per- 
son ;  and  when  they  were  separated,  it  was 


Permanent  Institutions.  ^ 

not  felt  that  their  relative  bearing  had 
been  changed.  Humanity  was  a  unit 
under  a  threefold  manifestation,  and  this 
was  not  more  apparent  in  the  Hebrew  de- 
velopment, of  which  the  record  has  been 
definitely  preserved,  than  in  the  Gentile 
developments  which  existed  side  by  side 
\yith  that  of  the  Hebrews.  It  is  one  of 
the  structural  features  of  human  history, 
that,  under  all  governments  and  among  all 
races,  the  family,  the  body  politic,  and  the 
ecclesiastical  order  have  found  their  places. 
With  great  changes  and  modifications  they 
have  constantly  retained  their  prevailing 
types,  whether  the  light  of  God's  presence 
in  the  world  has  been  clearly  recognized, 
as  among  the  Hebrews,  or  partially  hidden 
under  superstitions  and  corruptions,  as 
among  the  rival  race-growths  of  the  East. 
It  deepens  the  sense  of  continuous  order 
and  of  the  constant  unfolding  of  the  life 
toward  freedom  to  find  that  these  institu- 
tions, which  are  fundamental  in  human 
society,  do  not  change   in  their  essential 


4         The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

character  as  the  centuries  go  by.  They 
are  modified  by  the  movements  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  but  they  are  the  same  in 
structure  that  they  have  ever  been.  It  is 
the  tendency  of  the  time  to  see  only  the 
individual  existence,  to  regard  life  in  piece- 
meal, to  secure  the  wellbeing  of  one  man. 
Democratic  society  is  a  mass  of  units,  and 
the  struggle  is  toward  the  points  where 
one  man  shall  prevail ;  but  the  moment  a 
general  average  is  reached  in  the  personal 
or  political  or  ecclesiastical  life,  it  is  found 
that  the  ancient  institutions  of  the  world 
reappear  and  claim  their  own.  They  re- 
appear, not  singly,  but  together.  If  the 
church  is  disregarded,  the  state  loses  its 
tone  and  the  family  its  complementary  sup- 
port. If  the  state  is  enfeebled,  the  church 
struggles  as  with  an  unnatural  burden,  and 
the  personal  education  of  the  family  through 
the  state  is  interfered  with.  If  the  family 
life  is  neglected,  the  state  is  not  reenforced 
with  good  citizens,  and  the  church  is  com- 
paratively powerless.     The  great  changes 


Permanent  Institutions.  5 

in  history  are  connected  with  the  rise  and 
fall  of  these  institutions.  They  are  so 
closely  related  that  society  is  touched  as  a 
whole  whenever  either  of  them  is  interfered 
with.  This  is  freely  acknowledged,  but  in 
the  practical  operation  of  institutions  upon 
individual  life  it  is  often  disregarded.  The 
family  is  allowed  to  do  its  work  without 
this  assistance  of  the  church ;  the  church 
and  the  state  are  neutral  or  hostile  ;  each 
pursues  its  own  way  as  if  it  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  other.  As  there  is  in  every 
well-ordered  life  an  unrealized  ideal  to 
which  the  imagination  appeals  for  the  en- 
thusiasm and  the  courage  that  carry  one 
through  the  rough  passages  of  experience, 
so  there  is  a  theory  of  the  relation  of  divine 
institutions  to  one  another  which  is  neces- 
sary to  the  harmonious  and  simultaneous 
development  of  all  the  iaterests  of  human 
society ;  and  it  is  in  and  through  their 
essential  unity  and  interdependence  that 
social  and  spiritual  advancement  are  to  be 
reached. 


6         The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

The  solidarity  of  human  forces  is  a  belief 
that  is  taught  by  a  study  of  the  processes 
of  history.  This  is  not  always  brought  out 
by  the  historian.  The  progress  of  the 
state  has  usually  been  the  theme  of  the 
historical  writer,  while  its  educational, 
social,  and  ethical  life  have  been  treated  as 
if  they  did  not  exist.  Buckle  was  among  the 
first  in  our  own  day  to  enlarge  the  historical 
view,  and  the  sociological  studies  of  later 
date  have  brought  within  the  range  of  his- 
torical writers  the  sum  of  the  influences 
that  have  controlled  the  life  of  the  people 
for  a  given  period.  History  can  no  longer 
be  the  tracing  of  a  single  dominant  idea  in 
its  process  of  development.  It  must  be 
the  tracing  of  the  combined  working  ideas 
of  the  world  as  they  have  influenced  so- 
ciety, and  these  working  ideas  are  found 
in  the  central  institutions  that  have  pre- 
vailed from  the  beginning.  They  have  not 
always  had  equally  free  play ;  but  what  has 
been  realized  in  the  social  development  of 
other   ages    has    come,    not   through   the 


Permanent  Institutions.  y 

family  education  and  the  personal   life  of 
the  individual  alone,  not  through  the  con- 
trol of  the  state  in  the  form  of  personal 
despotism  alone,   not   as   a   result  of   the 
ethical    development    through   which    the 
higher  beliefs  of  men  have  modified  human 
action,    but   through    their   combined   yet 
often  unequal  action  upon  mankind.     The 
movement   of   the   world   has    been   slow, 
infinitely   slow,    but   it   has    been   a   solid 
movement  toward  human  freedom.     This 
freedom   is  not  the  predominance  of  any 
one  idea  or  element ;  it  has  been  the  fruit 
of  their  combined  energy  in  lifting  man  up 
to  a  higher  ideal  of  society.     Exclusively 
regarded  on  the  ecclesiastical  side,  it  has 
been  the  realization  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in    the   world ;    regarded   in    the   light    of 
common    human  experience,  it  has  made 
mankind  sharers  in  the  redemptive  agencies 
of  a  power  that  works  for  righteousness  in 
society  at  large  and  is  called  the  Church 
of  Christ.     The  freedom  that  exists  in  the 
world  to-day  is  not  physical,  social,  ethical, 


8        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

or  spiritual  so  much  as  it  is  the  enthrone- 
ment of  life  upon  a  higher  plane.  It  is  the 
realization  of  the  meaning  of  the  City  of 
God  among  the  citizens  of  the  world.  It 
is  the  enlargement  of  life  through  the 
family,  the  state,  and  the  church,  in  their 
combined  influence  upon  the  individual 
man,  and  in  the  direction  which  they  give 
to  society.  There  has  been  a  growth  in 
modern  life  which  has  been  described  as 
the  development  of  individual  liberty. 
The  family,  working  freely,  has  been  the 
home  of  the  citizen,  of  the  state,  and  of 
the  earthly  City  of  God,  but  the  combined 
operation  of  church  and  state  was  for 
many  centuries  to  suppress  the  individual 
in  order  to  magnify  the  two  institutions 
which  have  been  employed  to  build  up  his 
life  in  freedom.  The  growth  of  modern 
society  has  been  in  the  direction  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  individual  at  the  ex- 
pense of  both  the  state  and  the  church. 
The  problem  to-day  is  to  restore  the 
family,  the  state,  and  the  church  to  their 


Permanent  Institutions.  p 

natural  functions  as  central  institutions 
for  the  organization,  protection,  and  guid- 
ance of  human  life.  The  freedom  of  the 
individual  has  been  secured  through  a 
process  of  evolution  in  which  humanity 
has  passed  from  childhood  to  maturity. 
The  voice  of  the  whole  people  is  to-day 
that  voice  of  God  which  was  once  thought 
to  be  heard  in  the  commands  of  the  king. 
The  state  in  America  and  England  has  the 
precedence  of  the  family  and  the  church 
in  the  direction  of  society,  and  the  work 
before  the  people  is  to  place  the  church 
and  the  family  on  an  equal  footing  with 
the  state.  The  gradual  transfer  of  au- 
thority from  the  head  of  the  tribe  to  the 
people  of  the  tribe, — the  transfer  of  the 
rule  from  Abraham  to  the  children  of 
Israel,  —  is  the  description  of  the  process 
that  has  culminated  in  the  democratic 
commonwealth  ;  but  this  large  and  free 
political  and  social  existence  is  endangered 
in  two  directions.  It  is  accompanied  by 
the  diminished  influence  of  the  family  and 


JO        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

by  the  frequent  ignoring  of  the  ethical  and 
spiritual  influence  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
They  exist ;  but  their  organic  character,  the 
part  they  play  as  institutions  in  the  mould- 
ing and  elevation  of  individual  life,  is 
weakened  by  a  mistaken  conception  of  the 
basis  upon  which  social  and  political  free- 
dom rest.  The  family  and  the  church  need 
to  be  restored  to  the  place  which  the  state, 
to  a  certain  extent,  holds  in  public  opinion. 
They  are  the  natural  supporters  of  the 
state.  The  strength  of  our  political  life  is 
in  the  industrial,  social,  and  spiritual  edu- 
cation of  the  people.  The  public  school 
stands  midway  between  the  family  and  the 
church,  and  educates  the  people  the  best 
when  both  of  these  institutions  inspire  its 
work. 

The  problem  at  any  period  in  the  history 
of  the  world  has  been  only  different  in 
form  from  that  which  is  before  the  Amer- 
ican people.  The  problem  to-day  is  the 
relation  of  the  three  fundamental  insti- 
tutions, which  have  always  expressed  the 


Permanent  Institutions.  // 

fullness  of  human  and  divine  agency  among 
men,  to  the  necessities  of  modern  society. 
Columbus  discovered  what  he  called  the 
new  world,  and  modern  society  almost  had 
its  beginning  with  that  event.  People 
who  are  here  to-day  find  themselves  in  a 
world  which  is  as  new  to  its  past  as  the 
world  which  Columbus  first  saw  was  new  to 
his  fellow-Europeans  to  whom  he  carried 
the  fact  of  his  discovery.  There  is  a  new 
feeling  about  the  things  which  have  been 
accepted.  The  scientific  method  takes 
nothing  for  granted,  and  the  historical 
method  slowly  satisfies  those  who  feel  that 
the  foundations  of  social  and  spiritual  life 
are  to  be  laid  anew.  The  enlargement  of 
existence,  and  the  presence  of  forces  which 
are  changing  the  key-note  from  hour  to 
hour,  have  given  the  impression  that  the 
institutional  life  of  men  is  to  be  begun 
anew  ;  and  in  this  conviction  it  is  felt  that 
the  family  and  the  church  are  not  the 
important  factors  that  they  have  shown 
themselves  to  be  in  history.     It  is  from 


12        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

this  point  of  view  that  it  is  wise  to  study 
our  social  development.  What  are  the 
conservative  and  constructive  agencies 
which  are  to  control  and  guide  the  miscel- 
laneous life  of  the  hour  ?  How  is  the  old 
to  be  adjusted  to  the  new?  How  shall 
the  family  preserve  its  integrity  ?  How 
shall  the  state  maintain  its  freedom  ?  How 
shall  the  church  be  the  family  of  God 
among  the  people?  Civil  society  is  the 
field  in  which  these  ancient  and  permanent 
institutions  are  to  find  their  adjustment  to 
the  working  life  of  the  people,  and  the 
Church  of  Christ  has  the  duty  of  entering 
this  field  and  making  fresh  conquests  for 
God  and  humanity. 


T 


CHAPTER   II. 

The  Church  before  the  Reformation. 
HE  Church  of  Christ  is  singled  out 


in  history  as  the  institution  which  in 
its  various  forms  has  contributed  most  to 
the  direction  of  the  world.  It  has  ruled 
in  human  affairs  for  two  reasons :  it  has 
claimed  that  the  future  life  is  determined 
by  one's  present  conduct,  and  it  has  stood 
for  the  righteousness  that  is  necessary 
alike  in  the  family  and  in  the  state,  if  so- 
ciety is  to  discharge  its  highest  ethical 
functions.  It  has  had  a  supernatural  sanc- 
tion, and  it  has  proved  itself  the  best  prac- 
tical scheme  for  the  regulation  of  conduct. 
This  twofold  appeal  to  men  always  existed 
and  must  be  as  operative  in  the  future 
as  in  the  past.  It  is,  in  effect,  a  twofold 
sanction.  Much  has  been  naturally  made 
of  the  divine  authority  of  Christianity,  and 


14        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

of  the  church  as  the  organized  form  of 
society  through  which  its  principles  have 
been  transmitted  and  its  benefits  secured, 
—  too  much  has  perhaps  been  made  to 
keep  the  harmony  that  should  subsist 
between  its  three  permanent  factors.  It 
is  an  ideal  state  of  society  where  the  divine 
sanction  is  the  supreme  reality,  and  where 
religious  motives  universally  prevail.  The 
actual  state  of  things  in  the  world  is  the 
ordering  of  Ufe  as  conditioned  by  the  two 
motives  of  future  happiness  and  present 
convenience.  The  church,  or  what  has 
stood  in  the  place  of  the  church,  has  had 
in  earlier  ages  the  sanction  of  divine  au- 
thority more  compactly  asserted  and  main- 
tained than  it  is  insisted  on  now.  The 
Jewish  Church  was  essentially  a  theocracy 
in  which  every  son  of  Israel  had  his  im- 
mediate relation  to  God.  Every  heathen 
substitute  for  the  church  has  aimed  to  give 
a  divine  sanction  to  the  operations  of  life. 
The  pure  theism  of  the  early  religions  was 
immensely  expanded  in  its  human  relation- 


The  Church  before  the  Reformation.      75 

ships  by  the  advent  of  Christ,  who  revealed 
the  brightness  of  God's  glory  and  was  the 
express  image  of  his  person.  It  was  the 
Christ  who  gave  all  the  old  religions  a  new 
meaning,  as  if  the  dim  visions  had  suddenly 
burst  out  into  open  day.  It  was  the  effect 
of  the  Incarnation  that  the  divine  authority 
of  Christianity  was  most  emphasized  at  its 
beginning,  but  it  was  greatly  assisted  in 
its  identifications  with  human  life  by  the 
embodiment  of  Christian  principles  in  prac- 
tical conduct.  The  church  took  the  shape 
in  the  world  which  Christ  is  believed  to 
have  intended  ;  and  the  tracing  of  the  form 
which  it  assumed  through  successive  gen- 
erations, in  the  processes  of  history,  is  the 
record  of  its  contact  with  civilization,  and 
of  the  way  in  w^hich  the  one  has  acted  and 
reacted  upon  the  other. 

The  history  of  the  church  has  usually 
been  written  as  if  it  were  the  only  divine 
institution  in  the  world.  It  has  been  re- 
garded as  the  only  leaven  of  society.  The 
family  and  the  state  have  been  regarded  as 


1 6        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

institutions  which  perpetuate  corruption, 
while  the  church  alone  keeps  society  pure 
and  maintains  the  integrity  of  the  social  and 
the  political  order.  The  mistake  that  has 
been  made  is  in  their  separation,  in  urging 
the  claims  of  the  family  and  the  state  as 
infinitely  lower  than  that  of  the  church. 
It  was  natural  to  make  this  mistake,  be- 
cause the  church  is  concerned  with  two 
worlds,  the  one  that  is  and  the  one  that  is 
in  process  of  being.  It  grew  out  of  the 
undue  insistence  upon  the  authoritative 
sanction  of  the  church  as  a  divine  insti- 
tution and  of  the  conviction  that  a  man's 
spiritual  interests  exceed  in  importance 
his  interests  as  a  member  of  society.  The 
larger  principle  is  expanded  in  the  say- 
ing, *'  He  that  loseth  his  life  for  My  sake 
shall  find  it."  But  there  has  ever  been, 
and  there  is  to-day,  the  purely  ecclesiastical 
way  of  looking  at  the  church,  —  exalting  its 
organization,  its  authority,  its  succession 
of  ministers,  its  traditional  faith,  the  va- 
lidity of   its    sacraments,  as   if   its  virtue 


The  Church  before  the  Reformation.      ly 

was  in  these  apart  from  their  relation  to 
men  in  the  form  of  spiritual  ministrations. 
In  one  quarter  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
has  been  exalted  into  a  fetich  ;  in  another, 
dogmas  have  taken  on  doctrinaire  forms 
until  the  things  insisted  on  as  necessary 
to  salvation  often  acquire  the  character  of 
theological  fictions.  It  is  a  long  way  to 
clearness  of  view  when  the  supernatural 
neither  in  ministrations  nor  in  belief  takes 
a  place  that  is  out  of  harmony  with  the 
other  factors  of  human  development.  The 
supernatural  is  not  to  be  denied  in  the 
revelation  of  the  truth  to  the  human  con- 
sciousness, nor  in  the  Personality  of  our 
Lord  ;  but  the  supernatural  element  in  the 
earlier  history  of  our  religion  has  been  di- 
minished in  its  power  to  move  life  to-day, 
and  the  purpose  of  improving  humanity 
has  come  more  and  more  into  view.  It  is 
comparatively  easy  to  assume  much  about 
the  spiritual,  or  divine,  authority  of  the 
church,  and  to  regard  any  other  sanctions 
of  a  working  Christianity  as  unworthy  of 


1 8        The  Church  in  Modem  Society. 

attention  ;  and  here  ardent  religionists  have 
often  gone  beyond  their  Hmits.  And  for 
this  reason  there  has  arisen  a  repulsion 
from  spiritual  authority  which  has  largely 
entered  into  the  judgments  of  men.  The 
sanction  of  the  church  which  carries  most 
weight  with  thoughtful  persons  is  its  prac- 
tical efficiency  as  one  of  the  working  fac- 
tors of  society.  It  is  better  understood 
and  appreciated  as  a  reality  than  as  a 
divine  power.  As  one  of  the  perma- 
nent elements  that  enter  into  the  contin- 
uous life  of  humanity,  it  no  more  loses 
its  higher  spiritual  character  when  it  is 
mainly  valued  for  its  human  uses,  than  the 
family  and  the  state  are  shorn  of  their 
divine  authority  when  they  are  regarded 
only  with  reference  to  the  ends  which  they 
serve.  Each  depends  upon  the  other  for 
functions  which  impart  strength  to  society, 
and  each  has  its  sanction  in  its  necessity 
to  the  welfare  of  humanity.  The  church 
has  always  maintained,  along  with  the 
assertion  of  its  divine  character,  close  re- 


The  Church  before  the  Reformation,      ig 

lations  with  the  state  and  with  the  family. 
It  has  worked  through  both,  and  has  itself 
been  shaped  and  modified  by  both.  In 
the  patriarchal  and  Jewish  dispensations, 
the  family  and  the  state  were  overshad- 
owed by  the  theocracy,  but  they  were  still 
the  two  arms  by  which  the  Hebrew  Church 
built  up  life  within  the  Jewish  nation  and 
sustained  social  and  political  order.  If  it 
transcended  the  limits  which  would  be 
allowed  to-day,  it  did  no  harm  where  life 
was  still  narrowed  to  the  knowledge  and 
doing  of  few  things.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  dispensation,  Christianity 
stood  outside  of  the  world  and  asked  to 
be  admitted.  Its  claims  to  be  listened  to 
had  to  be  vouched  for.  The  family  and 
the  state,  as  permanent  factors  of  society, 
had  been  organized  without  its  sanction, 
though  not  without  an  institution  intended 
to  serve  its  purpose,  and  did  not  feel  the 
need  of  its  assistance ;  and  yet  there  was 
the  vacant  place  in  the  social  order  which 
the  religious  element  in  neither  Greek  nor 


20        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

Roman  civilization  could  fill,  and  which 
Christianity  supplied  with  wonderful  ra- 
pidity when  it  gained  leverage  in  the  world 
and  began  to  control  the  lives  of  men. 
Though  it  entered  society  through  the 
members  of  Caesar's  household,  it  did  not 
stop  until  it  had  ascended  Caesar's  throne. 
The  early  history  of  Christianity  is  the 
record  of  a  continuous  conflict  between 
the  social  and  spiritual  forces  in  each  gen- 
eration. The  natural  law  of  the  family 
and  of  the  state  is  not  in  accord  with  the 
Christian  ideal  of  what  these  institutions 
should  be.  The  church  with  its  credentials 
in  its  hands  is  forcing  its  way  to  the  head 
of  civilization,  and  is  engaged  in  recon- 
structing the  social  and  religious  beliefs 
of  men  at  every  step.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  paganism  colored  Christianity,  that 
the  pagan  idea  of  the  family  and  the  state 
found  recognition  in  the  church,  and  that, 
in  the  absence  of  the  individual  freedom 
of  modern  life,  the  family  should  become 
shriveled  and  the  monarchical  element  in 


The  Church  before  the  Reformation.      21 

the  state  should  gain  the  ascendancy  even 
in  the  church.  The  relation  was  too  close 
for  the  results  to  be  otherwise.  The  pict- 
ure of  apostolic  Christianity  in  its  sim- 
plicity, in  its  freshness,  in  its  beauty,  is 
imperfectly  realized  after  the  church  has 
entered  upon  its  world-career  and  under- 
takes to  maintain  spiritual  purposes  with 
carnal  weapons.  Not  that  families  are  not 
Christians,  or  that  the  state  is  not  under 
spiritual  control  ;  but  the  freedom  of  each 
is  lost  through  a  form  of  society  in  which 
liberty  of  action  for  the  individual  has  not 
been  secured.  When  the  church  has  con- 
trol, it  is  too  often  Caesar's  hand  that 
carries  the  pastoral  staff,  and  the  social 
conditions  are  unfavorable  for  the  natural 
action  of  Christian  principles.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  the  situation  as  it  really  was, 
because  the  materials  for  its  reconstruc 
tion  have  been  overweighted  and  put  out 
of  sight  by  a  purely  ecclesiastical  view 
of  Christianity,  and  because  the  church, 
when   it   gained   through  the  Papacy  the 


22        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

control  of  western  civilization,  had  joined 
hand  in  hand  with  elements  that  carried 
it  far  away  from  its  free  and  natural  in- 
fluence upon  society.  It  is  easy  to  infer 
that,  with  Christianity  in  the  form  of  des- 
potic authority,  and  with  the  integrity  of 
the  Christian  family  constantly  threatened 
by  monachism  and  the  living  in  commu- 
nities, the  free  and  natural  development  of 
human  society  in  its  distinctive  elements 
was  greatly  interfered  with  up  to  the  4;ime 
of  the  Reformation.  What  the  church 
accomplished  was  the  holding  of  vital 
truth  and  the  maintenance  of  its  heredi- 
tary and  apostolic  organization  ;  it  failed 
because  it  absorbed  into  itself  the  func- 
tions which  belong  to  the  state,  and  took 
its  tone  too  much  from  the  secular  power. 
The  family  was  ignored.  The  individual 
was  felt  neither  in  the  church  nor  in  the 
state  as  a  personal  element.  The  history 
of  those  times  makes  much  of  individuals, 
but  they  were  persons  bent  upon  working 
through  the  church  or  the    state  for  per- 


The  Church  before  the  Reformation.      2^ 

sonal  ends,  and  do  not  fairly  represent  the 
free  and  natural  action  of  institutions  upon 
society. 

One  needs  to  study  history  with  large 
sympathies  for  the  imperfect  development 
of  great  and  fundamental  ideas,  if  he  is  not 
to  lose  his  faith  in  the  divine  movement 
of  the  world.  The  two  institutions  which 
should  have  advanced  in  peace  and  unity 
from  the  beginning  —  the  church  and 
the  state  —  have  been  at  war  with  one 
another  since  the  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine,  chiefly  because  the  prerogative 
of  the  church  in  spiritual  affairs  had  been 
claimed  as  its  right  in  secular  life,  and  in 
this  conflict  the  spiritual  movement  of  the 
world  had  its  opportunity  constantly  de- 
layed. The  progress  of  society  satisfies 
no  theorist ;  but  in  a  large  view  of  the 
order  of  events,  there  is,  if  not  the  ideal 
result,  such  an  advance,  or  such  an  open- 
ing of  new  features,  that  the  working 
hopes  of  humanity  are  encouraged  and 
maintained.     And  this  is  the  outcome  of 


24        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

the  period  during  which  the  Christian 
Church  Hved  through  the  transition  from 
the  ancient  world  to  modern  life.  You 
can  trace,  if  you  will,  beneath  the  enor- 
mous mass  of  details,  the  imperfect  and 
restrained  operation  of  the  family,  the 
state,  and  the  church,  —  none  of  them 
free,  none  of  thern  willing  to  trust  the 
others,  yet  each  compelled  to  accept  some 
modus  Vivendi  and  wait  for  better  days. 


T 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  Church  in  Modern  Life, 

HE  modern  world  begins  with  the 
Reformation,  with  the  outburst  of 
intellectual  and  spiritual  life  that  had 
long  been  waiting  its  opportunity.  The 
Reformation  itself  was  a  twofold  move- 
ment :  it  took  the  direction  of  spiritual 
independence,  but  it  was  quite  as  dis- 
tinctly political  as  it  was  spiritual.  The 
world  had  outgrown  the  church's  interpre- 
tation of  it  and  insisted  that  the  church 
should  allow  a  larger  and  different  expan- 
sion of  the  social  and  spiritual  needs  of 
men.  The  state  felt  the  necessity  of  as- 
serting its  independence  of  the  church. 
The  original  institutions  of  society  were 
making  their  strongest  efforts  since  the 
primitive  davs  to  give  an  increased  free- 


26         The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

dom  to  individual  life.  The  consciousness 
of  the  civilized  world  was  thoroughly 
awakened ;  but  the  interest  in  the  family, 
which  had  long  been  choked  by  its  more 
powerful  rivals,  the  church  and  the  state, 
was  not  aroused  in  the  same  degree.  The 
contest  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  was  mainly  the  struggle  between 
the  church  and  the  state  to  establish  the 
precedence  of  the  one  over  the  other. 
Sometimes  the  one  led,  sometimes  the 
other,  but  the  effort  was  always  an  attempt 
to  reach  a  result  for  which  the  world  was 
not  quite  prepared.  A  study  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  collective  church  since  the 
Reformation  reveals  this  widening  of  the 
too  close  embrace  of  the  church  and  state 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  assertion 
of  a  freer,  more  expansive,  more  truly  in- 
dividual life,  which  has  made  a  sphere  for 
itself  in  civil  society.  In  other  ages  man 
was  a  member  of  the  family,  of  the  state, 
of  the  church,  and  expressed  his  individ- 
uality through  this  membership  ;  but  since 


The  Church  in  Modern  Life.  2y 

the  Reformation  he  has  more  and  more 
asserted  his  personality,  his  conscious  self- 
existence,  his  right  to  think  for  himself. 
It  is  this  largeness  and  freedom  of  move- 
ment which  is  specially  expressed  by  the 
modern  meaning  of  the  term  civil  society. 
This  was  not  unknown  to  the  Greeks,  and 
before  the  Reformation  it  existed  where- 
ever  the  people  had  gained  industrial  or 
commercial  freedom ;  but  so  soon  as  men 
began  to  enter  into  a  larger  sense  of  their 
individual  rights,  they  sought  a  common 
sphere  in  which  to  exercise  them,  and  civil 
society  is  this  sphere  in  modern  life.  So- 
ciety has  been  mainly  dominated  since  the 
Reformation  by  hostility  to  institutions 
which  fetter  one's  personality  and  restrict 
his  freedom.  A  large  number  of  the  re- 
ligious movements  that  grew  out  of  the 
Reformation  made  this  principle  the  basis 
of  opposing  the  institutional  order  of  so- 
ciety and  of  gaining  larger  liberty  for  the 
individual.  The  political  parties  in  the 
state    have    proceeded    mainly   upon   the 


28        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

same  idea.  It  has  been  difficult  to  main- 
tain the  principle  that  society  is  based 
upon  permanent  institutions.  Not  to  mul- 
tiply illustrations,  and  confining  attention 
to  the  church  alone,  there  has  been  a  wide 
departure  from  that  intense  spirit  of  organ- 
ization that  pervaded  every  element  of  so- 
ciety in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  protected, 
while  it  restricted,  the  movements  of  men. 
The  individual  man  has  been  determined 
to  have  his  own  way  in  all  things,  and 
the  aggregate  of  the  life  of  the  people  has 
brought  the  state  and  the  church  alike  to 
a  point  where  their  permanent  relations  to 
the  common  welfare  are  often  overlooked 
by  the  people  at  large.  There  has  been  an 
entire  revolution  since  Wy cliff e  breathed 
the  spirit  of  a  Christian  freeman  into  the 
church  life  of  England,  and  Luther  spoke 
out  of  his  inner  consciousness  in  Ger- 
many. 

It  is  necessary  to  give  this  point  a 
larger  statement  than  the  simple  noting  of 
the    fact,    because    it    covers    the    whole 


The  Church  in  Modern  Life.  2g 

ground  of  the  modern  church.  PoUtical 
and  religious  movements  have  been  closely 
allied  in  the  history  of  mankind.  This  is 
as  true  of  the  ancient  as  of  the  modern 
world.  The  tendency  in  both  church  and 
state  for  the  last  three  centuries  has  been 
strongly  toward  individual  liberty,  and  the 
drift  in  religion  has  been  toward  a  demo- 
cratic church  in  a  free  nation.  The 
authority  of  institutions  as  privileged  or- 
ders is  now  constantly  denied,  and  there 
is  a  profound  distrust  of  whatever  is 
weighted  by  traditions.  There  is  a  view  of 
life  that  justifies  these  radical  positions. 
You  cannot  measure  modern  life  by  the 
rules  that  fitted  an  entirely  different  state 
of  society.  The  old  life  of  the  world  must 
cast  off  its  ancient  habit  if  it  is  to  meet 
the  conditions  of  the  new  day,  and  this  is 
what  democratic  society  has  done  in  the 
last  century  and  is  doing  in  this ;  but 
while  the  surface  movement  has  been  of 
this  sort,  there  has  been  a  far  different 
movement  beneath  the  visible  order.     So- 


50        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

ciety  thrives  and  survives  like  the  strong 
oak  of  the  pasture  because  it  strikes  its 
root  deep  down  into  life.  It  cannot  exist 
without  the  economic  laws  or  the  institu- 
tional order.  The  instincts  of  nature  and 
the  dictates  of  right  reason  alike  preserve 
the  conditions  by  which  the  life  of  men  is 
dependent  upon  permanent  organizations. 
It  is  here  that  the  conservative  view  of 
society  justifies  itself  and  institutions  are 
seen  in  their  bearing  upon  personal  char- 
acter. There  must  be  a  political  check 
upon  pure  democracy,  if  government  is 
not  to  drift  into  anarchy.  There  must  be 
an  ecclesiastical  check  upon  pure  volun- 
taryism in  religion,  if  the  church  is  not  to 
lose  its  title  to  authority  and  reverence 
among  men. 

The  influence  of  the  Reformation  is 
here  deeply,  felt.  The  whole  output  of 
modern  life  has  been  the  assertion  of  a 
principle  which  is  destructive  to  the  inte- 
grity of  social  order,  and  yet  it  is  this 
principle  of  order  which  is  perhaps  more 


The  Church  in  Modern  Life.  ^i 

precious  than  any  other  in  the  estimation 
of  men.  The  material  and  personal  gains 
of  life  spring  from  the  incentives  that  come 
to  one  and  act  as  spurs  to  the  powers 
within  him ;  but  they  fail  to  make  the  most 
of  a  man,  unless,  as  the  head  of  a  family, 
as  a  citizen,  and  as  a  servant  of  God,  he 
is  in  his  place  in  the  institutions  which 
have  been  organized  in  the  world  for  the 
preservation  and  purification  of  society. 
The  weakness  of  modern  life  is  in  its 
severance  from  the  permanent  sources  of 
power,  which  are  expressed  in  family  edu- 
cation, in  intelligent  citizenship,  and  in  the 
Christian  idea  of  character.  There  can  be 
no  substitute  for  these  in  any  form  of  so- 
ciety, and  the  danger  in  the  free  develop- 
ment of  present  life  is  that  what  is  per- 
manent in  the  ordering  of  society  shall  be 
overshadowed  by  individual  theory  and 
experiment.  The  family  is  not  sufficiently 
developed ;  the  tendency  of  the  church 
is  to  become  a  club-house  ;  the  state  is 
the  prey  of  politicians ;  the  church  cannot 


^2         The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

work  freely  and  to  advantage  unless  the 
family  and  the  state  are  in  harmony  with 
its  purpose ;  and  it  is  in  reaching  out  to  a 
reconciliation  between  what  is  permanent 
and  what  is  experimental  that  the  spiritual 
regeneration  of  society  is  to  find  its  ful- 
fillment. This  is  the  task  that  is  before 
the  Christian  Church  in  every  nationality 
where  it  has  ancient  or  recent  foothold. 
It  is  as  imperative,  in  its  demands,  in  the 
older  civilization  as  in  the  new.  It  is  to 
become  a  working  factor  in  free  society, 
not  supreme  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  not 
overborne  by  the  state  as  often  during  the 
last  two  centuries  in  England  and  in  Con- 
tinental Europe,  not  an  incipient  and  per- 
mitted power  as  in  the  first  Christian  days, 
but  gaining  the  consent  of  the  best  minds 
and  leading  the  thought  of  the  world,  be- 
cause it  teaches  and  preserves  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  past  and  expresses  the  free 
convictions  of  men,  endowed  with  liberty, 
in  such  a  union  that  the  continuous  order 
of  Christian  thought  is   transmitted,  with 


The  Church  in  Modern  Life.  ^^ 

its  full  power  to  sustain  and  guide  the  ex- 
pansive and  intensive  life  of  the  individual 
man. 

The  modern  church  in  the  United  States 
must  first  be  studied  in  its  historical  de- 
velopment. The  religion  of  this  country 
has  been  characterized  as  "a  common- 
wealth of  sects."  The  American  colonies 
represented  the  various  dissenters  of  the 
German  and  English  reformations,  no  less 
than  the  English  and  Roman  parts  of  the 
historical  church  ;  and  with  all  the  attempts 
to  establish  a  state  religion  in  the  different 
provinces,  the  result  was  a  formal  separation 
of  the  church  from  the  state,  whose  union, 
under  varying  relations  in  Christian  history, 
has  been  the  chief  source  of  contention  at 
the  great  centres  of  civilization.  But  there 
has  never  been  in  America  an  authorized 
form  of  religion.  One  ecclesiastical  body 
has  ruled  in  one  section,  another  in  another ; 
but  universal  consent  has  been  given  to 
none.  The  church  has  been  in  the  con- 
dition of  organized  schism  from  the  begin- 


y.        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

ning.  The  unity  has  not  been  that  of 
creed  or  poHty,  but  the  unity  of  baptism 
into  the  body  of  Christ.  The  principle  of 
the  Reformation,  that  the  church  is  the 
product  of  a  consensus  of  opinion  gathered 
from  the  Christian  and  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
has  given  one  sect  as  good  authority  as 
another,  and  each  one  has  struggled  to 
obtain  the  largest  following  possible.  Even 
the  historical  churches,  like  the  English 
and  the  Roman,  and  possibly  the  Moravian, 
have  stood  upon  the  same  footing  in  the 
thought  of  the  people.  The  effect  has 
been,  that,  while  society  was  controlled  by 
the  rigid  views  of  the  reigning  sect,  there 
has  been  an  outward  conformity  to  reli- 
gious institutions  ;  but  when  the  ecclesias- 
tical regime  lost  its  hold  upon  the  com- 
munity, the  church,  so  called,  stood  only 
for  an  idea,  an  opinion,  not  for  institutional 
order,  not  for  social  construction,  not  for 
a  conception  of  God's  relation  to  the  world, 
which  is  coextensive  with  the  active  com- 
munity and  with  the  whole  of  humanity. 


The  Church  hi  Modern  Life.  ^^ 

The  church  in  America  to-day  resembles 
the  English  colonies  in  this  country  in 
their  conscious  lack  of  power  to  organize 
society  upon  a  basis  that  included  the 
interests  of  all  the  people.  Political  neces- 
sity, after  the  Revolution,  constantly  aided 
by  the  efforts  of  statesmen,  from  Hamil- 
ton to  Webster,  at  length  rooted  in  the 
thoughts  of  men  the  idea  of  nationality, 
and  the  country  now  feels  the  fructifying 
vitality  of  the  nation  as  a  political  institu- 
tion ;  but  no  such  unity  of  thought  and  ac- 
tion has  been  reached  in  the  organization 
of  our  ecclesiastical  life.  The  great  defect 
of  the  German  Reformation  —  that  it  or- 
ganized society,  not  by  expanding  the  ex- 
isting church  (as  was  the  case,  to  a  degree, 
in  England)  to  the  dimensions  of  the  in- 
creased meaning  of  life  to  the  individual, 
but  by  breaking  loose  from  the  church  to 
create  new  organizations  to  do  the  work 
that  could  have  best  been  done  by  reform- 
ing agencies  within,  which  were  partially 
secured  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  might 


^6        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

have  been  vastly  better  secured  if  Luther 
and  his  companions  had  been  present  at 
its  deliberations  —  has  been  multiplied 
until  it  is  the  existing  hindrance  and  ob- 
stacle of  Christianity  in  every  American 
town  and  village.  The  defect  is  in  the 
inadequacy  of  the  thing  that  exists  in  the 
place  of  the  church  to  control  the  spiritual 
life  of  the  whole  people ;  and  until  an 
organization  is  reached  which  brings  to- 
gether all  Christian  agencies  in  a  given 
community  under  an  administration  that 
represents  ecclesiastical  economy  and  the 
true  conservation  of  forces,  our  religious 
societies,  of  all  names,  will  continue  to 
fail,  as  they  have  heretofore  failed,  to  do 
for  the  community  what  they  aim  to  do 
for  the  individual.  The  existing  organi- 
zations do  not  express  the  power  of  the 
working  church  of  primitive  days  in  our 
industrial,  social,  and  ethical  life.  Christ 
is  not  acknowledged  in  his  place  in  the 
institutions  which  God  has  planted  in  the 
world  for  the  preservation  and  purification 


The  Church  in  Modern  Life.  57 

of  society.  The  weakness  of  modern  life 
is  in  its  severance  from  the  natural  strength 
that  comes  from  the  family  education,  from 
an  intelligent  citizenship,  and  from  the 
Christian  idea  of  character.  There  can  be 
no  substitute  for  these  fundamental  and 
permanent  forms  and  institutions. 

The  survey  of  our  American  denomina- 
tional development  from  this  point  of  view 
leads  to  instructive  conclusions. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Church  in  Disintegration, 

nr^HE  chief  characteristic  of  the  church 
■^  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  that  it  in- 
cluded the  industrial,  social,  and  political 
interests  of  the  community  under  spiritual 
direction.  The  life  of  the  period  was  far 
less  expansive  than  the  same  life  is  at  the 
present  day,  but  the  interests  to  a  degree 
were  the  same  which  they  are  now.  The 
church  by  special  legislation  and  parochial 
provision  met  the  common  necessities  of 
the  community  without  going  outside  of  it- 
self. The  place  of  the  collective  Christian 
organizations  in  democratic  society  to-day 
is  in  the  strongest  possible  contrast  with 
their  rank  in  the  old  institutional  order. 
The  special  agencies  which  the  church  once 
controlled  are  now  largely  beyond  its  pale, 
and  are  mostly  without  religious  direction. 


The  Church  in  Disintegration,         ^g 

The  church  has  parted  with  its  social 
jurisdiction.  The  hospitals,  the  provident 
societies,  the  relief  associations,  the  friendly 
orders,  the  reformation  of  criminals,  are 
more  often  outside  of  the  Christian  churches 
than  under  their  control.  If  the  church  is 
still  associated  with  the  state  in  this  work, 
it  is  as  one  of  the  agencies  in  a  field 
which  in  monastic  England  and  in  the 
old  Gallic  Church  was  wholly  within  the 
confines  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  The 
increase  of  the  work  of  this  sort  is  due  to 
the  great  and  universal  development  of 
individual  power  in  modern  society.  The 
church  has  not  kept  pace  with  this  de- 
velopment. The  Roman  communion  has 
intended  to  do  this  ;  the  Anglican  body 
has  kept  it  in  view ;  the  different  Prot- 
estant organizations  have  maintained  the 
theory  that  nothing  which  concerns  the 
life  of  society  is  outside  of  the  scope  of 
Christian  treatment ;  the  view  of  social  order 
in  the  Middle  Ages  is  still  substantially  held 
in  theory  ;  but  it  is  seldom  that  the  Chris- 


40        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

tian  Church  is  found  dealing  to-day  in  a 
large  and  organic  way  with  the  benevolent, 
educational,  or  social  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. The  life  of  men  has  come  to  be 
so  much  outside  of  the  ecclesiastical  en- 
vironment that  the  world  has  pushed  the 
church  out  of  its  old  centre,  and  built  up 
all  sorts  of  organizations  to  do  its  work  of 
reformation  and  renewal.  It  is  difficult  to 
realize  that  the  church  was  ever  anything 
more  than  it  is  in  our  American  towns 
at  the  present  day;  and  yet  even  in  our 
cherished  localities,  the  attempt  was  made 
hardly  more  than  two  centuries  ago  to 
organize  the  community  on  such  an  eccle- 
siastical basis  that  the  spiritual  power 
should  have  the  supremacy  in  all  depart- 
ments of  life.  It  was  the  attempt  to  make 
the  church  autocratic  by  taking  away 
the  freedom  of  the  individual  in  a  com- 
munity where  the  people  were  politically 
the  makers  of  the  state,  and  the  individual 
was  the  social  unit. 

It  was  not  a  long  step  to  a  revolt  from 


The  Church  in  Disintegration.         41 

this  order  of  things,  and,  when  it  came,  it 
meant  the  defeat  of  the  collective  church 
in  the  element  of  social  power.  All  Prot- 
estant bodies  since  the  Reformation  have 
felt  the  influence  of  the  revolt  of  the  in- 
dividual from  obedience  to  religious  rule. 
The  harmony  between  social  and  spiritual 
order  on  the  one  side  and  the  liberty  of 
the  individual  as  a  member  of  society  on 
the  other  has  not  been  cultivated.  The 
Christian  societies  lost  their  central  place 
when  they  broke  away  from  the  national 
church  or  the  Roman  obedience,  in  the 
old  world ;  and  in  the  new,  the  collective 
church,  though  it  began  in  England  as  the 
ruler  of  society,  was  so  arbitrary  in  its 
rulings  that  it  interfered  with  social  and 
personal  liberty  and  could  not  be  toler- 
ated. It  did  not  allow  free  scope  to  the 
individual  under  the  general  direction  of 
Christian  institutions.  The  result  was 
that  at  an  early  day  the  line  was  drawn 
between  religion  and  society ;  and  the  two 
elements  which  find  their  mutual  strength 


42        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

in  union  were  hopelessly  sundered  and 
have  ever  since  been  kept  apart  in  our  re- 
ligious development.  It  was  the  Puritan 
who  drew  this  vicious  line  between  the 
church  and  the  world,  and  alienated  the 
social  from  the  religious  life.  In  Eng- 
land and  France  the  national  church  has 
done  much  to  transmit  the  social  integra- 
tion of  religion  with  life,  so  that  the  separa- 
tion has  not  been  so  marked  as  it  is  in  a 
country  where  national  religious  institu- 
tions do  not  exist.  It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  the  Christianity  of  this  country  is  an 
immense  power;  it  is  here  simply  pointed 
out  that  from  the  beginning  it  has 
missed  one  of  the  prime  elements  of  influ- 
ence in  the  social  world.  It  has  not  been 
homogeneous  with  our  political  or  social 
life.  It  has  been  a  continual  contest  be- 
tween two  separate  views  of  Christianity — 
the  institutional  presentation  of  truth  and 
the  regeneration  of  the  individual ;  and  this 
contest  is  to-day,  what  it  was  one  or  two 
hundred  years  ago,  the  dividing  line  in  all 


The  Church  in  Disintegration.         4^ 

our  efforts  to  bring  the  Christian  Church 
into  the  central  position  where  it  can  do 
for  modern  society  what  it  did  for  the 
average  man  and  woman  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  when  monastic  and  other  Christian 
institutions  were  scattered  all  over  Eng- 
land and  Western  Europe. 

The  collective  church  is  separated  to-day, 
as  it  has  been  since  the  Standing  Order 
was  overthrown  in  New  England,  from  the 
secular  interests  of  life.  This  separation 
is  one  of  our  national  traditions.  It  is  not 
only  separation,  but  division.  The  differ- 
ent denominations  compel  the  maintenance 
of  different  organizations.  This  develops 
the  separatist  principle  with  reference  to 
one  another.  The  support  of  these  estab- 
lishments draws  the  Christian  members 
away  from  the  central  interests  of  society 
and  commits  them  to  the  support  of  eccle- 
siasticism.  This  naturally  intensifies  the 
national  religious  weakness  of  separating 
things  sacred  from  things  secular,  so  that 
there  is  little  direct   help   to   be   derived 


44        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

from  the  Christian  societies  toward  im- 
proving the  moral  life  of  the  people.  In 
many  things  our  present  ecclesiasticism 
works  directly  against  the  interests  which 
Christian  persons  should  be  anxious  to 
promote.  Both  in  our  towns  and  in  our 
!  villages  the  maintenance  of  rival  parochial 
organizations  withdraws  from  the  commu- 
nity much  of  the  influence  of  the  most 
worthy  people,  who  feel  obliged  to  work 
for  their  parishes  instead  of  looking  after 
the  real  prosperity  of  the  whole  family  of 
God  in  the  community. 

The  practical  operation  of  Christianity 
in  this  form  is  to  separate  into  cliques  per- 
sons who  ought  to  be  in  earnest  coopera- 
tion with  each  other.  They  cannot  have 
as  their  first  aim  the  good  of  the  whole. 
Their  very  attitude  toward  the  community 
is  wrong  ;  they  are  not  free  to  do  what  the 
large  heart  prompts  them  to  undertake. 
The  conception  of  the  Christian  rehgion 
that  is  in  practical  operation  is  a  contra- 
diction of  the  state  of  things  which  Chris- 


The  Church  in  Disintegration.         4^ 

tianity  is  intended  to  produce.  The  people 
are  divided  into  cliques  who  do  separate- 
ly what  should  be  done  by  the  collective 
church  in  the  community  with  the  spirit 
of  one  man.  Different  religionists  define 
their  positions  with  reference  to  one  an- 
other and  exalt  dogma  above  the  interests 
of  the  whole  population.  The  tendency 
is  to  narrow  their  views,  to  contract  their 
range  of  thought,  to  prevent  the  church  as 
an  institution  from  being  identified  with 
the  secular  welfare  of  the  people ;  and  this 
is  where  the  Christian  life  of  the  country 
is  most  seriously  checked  at  the  present 
time.  It  is  the  welfare  of  the  denomina- 
tion, not  the  welfare  of  the  entire  Church 
of  God,  which  receives  attention,  and  so 
far  as  this  spirit  prevails,  it  is  partially  an- 
tagonistic to  the  influence  which  Christian- 
ity ought  to  have  upon  towns,  villages,  and 
neighborhoods.  It  is  impossible  for  the 
pastor  of  a  congregation  in  a  town  or  vil- 
lage to  do  for  the  citizens  what  he  might 
do  if  the  people  were  entirely  under  his 


46        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

parochial  charge.  Hostihty  or  at  least 
rivalry  exists  between  two  or  more  sepa- 
rate organizations,  and  things  are  not  seen 
from  the  central  point  of  unity.  The  Chris- 
tian Church  has  come  to  represent  a  .cer- 
tain religious  order  rather  than  an  inspir- 
ing principle. 

Where  there  is  no  national  church,  it  is 
not  easy  to  supply  its  place.  Where  the 
church  is  not  central  in  society,  it  is  not 
at  the  point  where  it  can  do  the  most  for 
the  social  and  personal  amelioration  of  the 
people.  The  difficulty  with  our  organiza- 
tion of  religion  is  that  it  does  too  little  for 
social  interests.  It  aims  to  do  more  for  a 
man  in  the  next  life  than  it  helps  him  to 
perform  in  the  life  that  now  is.  The  need 
of  the  working  church  is  greater  than  men 
recognize,  and  this  cannot  be  at  its  best 
where  those  who  meet  together  are  not 
agreed,  and  willing  to  cooperate  in  essen- 
tial things.  The  narrowness  of  the  differ- 
ent bodies  which  constitute  the  Church  of 
Christ   in   the   United    States    is   a  o:reat 


The  Church  in  Disintegration,         47 

dr^.wback  to  their  usefulness.  Their  work- 
ing principle  is  opposed  to  comprehension. 
They  have  a  creed  which  is  narrower  and 
more  definite  within  certain  limits  than 
the  complete  statement  of  the  facts  of 
Christianity,  and  this  acts  as  a  limit  to  the 
work  which  they  aim  to  do.  Each  sepa- 
rate organization  has  something  less  than 
the  force  and  strength  of  the  whole  Church 
of  Christ.  This  is  acknowledged  in  its 
very  name,  as  well  as  in  the  details  or  omis- 
sions of  its  creed.  It  often  represents  an 
opinion  about  the  Christian  religion  rather 
than  the  full  substance  of  that  religion. 
This  is  inevitable  from  the  very  condition  of 
things,  and  the  deficiency  in  the  creed  is 
responsible  for  the  lack  of  comprehension 
which  still  further  alienates  the  church 
from  the  social  activities  of  the  people. 
This  is  deeply  felt 'as  a  serious  deficiency 
in  the  Christian  forces  of  England  by  men 
like  Dr.  James  Martineau,  who  sees  in  the 
exclusiveness  of  its  range  of  action  the 
failure  of    the  existing  church    in    Great 


48        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

Britain  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  reli- 
gious life  of  the  nation.     He  would  secure 
such  a  federation  of  the  present  religious 
forces  that  the  conception  of  the  working 
church    should    be   coextensive   with  the 
thought  and  spirit  and  activity  of  the  en- 
tire people.     This  would  go  far  to  restore 
Christianity  to  the  place  which  it  held  in  ; 
the  earlier  ages,  when  it  was  the  religion  of  j 
the  entire  nation,  not  of  cliques,  some  of  ] 
which  hold  to  one  part  of  the  faith  and  j 
some  to  another. 

The  combination  of  our  American  Chris- 
tian organizations  in  such  a  way  that  the 
strength  of  each  shall  be  felt  in  the  in- 
creasing comprehensiveness  of  all  is  the 
method  of  escape  from  the  serious  limita- 
tions which  now  stand  in  the  way  of  their 
usefulness.  The  national  mark  of  our  re- 
ligion is  that  it  does  not  control  society. 
The  religious  element  is  absent  from  the 
common  life  of  the  people.  What  social 
and  common  life  most  need  is  a  larger 
recognition     of    spiritual    purpose.      The 


The  Church  in  Disintegration,        49 

nation  has  not  yet  recovered  from  the 
dividing  line,  introduced  by  the  Puritans, 
which  separates  practical  Christianity  from 
the  broader  activities  in  which  every  citi- 
zen is  expected  to  find  his  sphere  of  work. 
The  general  conception  of  the  Christian 
Church  is  based  upon  this  line  of  distinc- 
tion and  manifests  itself  in  a  thousand 
modifications  of  current  thought  and  life. 
Nothing  like  the  English  method  of  opera- 
tion is  possible  here,  because  in  this  coun- 
try all  religious  societies  are  equal  in 
power  and  opportunity ;  but  the  gradual 
change  of  view  in  looking  at  the  situation, 
so  that  the  things  held  in  common  shall 
become  more  prominent,  and  the  points  of 
divergence  shall  recede  into  their  proper 
insignificance,  seems  to  be  leading  to  that 
larger  purpose  and  experience  through 
which  all  these  bodies  are  to  be  delivered 
from  the  limitations  of  their  Greeds  and 
their  methods. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Church  in  the  World, 

^  I  ^HE  difference  between  the  church 
-*-  and  the  state  in  modern  society  is 
that  the  state  still  deals  with  humanity  as 
a  whole,  while  the  church  has  no  juris- 
diction over  a  large  portion  of  the  people. 
The  church  is  an  organization  within  the 
state,  not  coextensive  with  it.  And  yet 
the  influence  which  the  church  has  always 
had  in  controlling  the  moral  and  spiritual 
interests  of  society  is  more  needed  now 
than  it  was  when  institutions  were  all-pre- 
vailing and  the  freedom  of  the  individual 
had  not  been  secured.  When  the  family 
life  is  not  protected,  it  is  difBcult  to  se- 
cure the  education  necessary  to  make  the 
good  citizen ;  when  the  state  fails  to  edu- 
cate its  members  in  the  duties  of  citizen- 


The  Church  in  the  World.  5/ 

ship,  the  nation  is  unable  to  protect  its 
interests  ;  and  when  the  church  has  no 
influence  over  a  large  portion  of  the 
people,  it  is  difficult  to  maintain  the  con- 
stant appeal  to  the  conscience  of  men 
which  secures  the  supremacy  of  moral 
rights  and  keeps  fresh  their  sense  of  duty 
to  one  another.  The  state  simply  regu- 
lates existing  conditions;  it  does  not  in- 
troduce a  new  view  of  present  life.  The 
church,  on  the  other  hand,  represents  the 
ethical  and  spiritual  motives  which  give 
moral  power  to  the  state  and  impart  moral 
and  spiritual  tone  to  society.  It  bases 
its  authority  not  on  what  the  individual 
is  compelled  to  concede  to  others  for  the 
sake  of  the  common  weal,  but  on  the 
brotherhood  of  men  and  their  mutual  de- 
pendence on  one  another.  It  represents 
the  moral  ideal  of  human  society,  and  its 
aim  and  purpose  is  to  introduce  that  ideal 
into  the  world-order.  Though  its  aim  is 
moral,  where  that  of  the  state  is  political 
and  economic,  it  derives  its  authority  not 


52        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

only  from  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
but  from  the  Divine  Person  whom  it  rep- 
resents ;  it  is  influential  only  so  far  as  its 
teachings  and  principles  are  accepted  by 
individuals  or  by  the  community.  And 
yet  without  this  insistence  on  moral  and 
spiritual  sanctions,  the  state  feels  the 
absence  of  that  authority,  coordinate  with 
itself  yet  distinctly  spiritual,  which  relates 
the  unseen  God  to  the  social  world  in 
which  his  purposes  are  recorded  in  the 
processes  of  history. 

In  our  own  time  the  state  has  "  slowly 
broadened  down  from  precedent  to  pre- 
cedent," until  it  is  a  government  '*of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people." 
The  church  has  not  followed  to  the  same 
degree  the  tendency  to  spiritual  democracy, 
though  it  must  always  find  its  sphere 
through  the  agency  of  the  people  in  order 
to  fulfill  its  mission  among  men.  The 
problem  before  the  Christian  Church  to- 
day is  whether  it  can  maintain  its  spiritual 
prerogative  and  be  as  truly  the  ministrant 


The  Church  in  the  World.  5^ 

to  the  unguided  multitudes  of  our  day  as 
it  was  the  guide  and  inspiration  of  the 
thousands  who  first  believed  in  Christi- 
anity and  felt  the  inspiration  of  the  new 
convictions  of  life  and  duty  which  it  gave 
to  them.  This  problem  presses  hard  upon 
those  who  are  seeking  the  solution  of 
our  industrial  and  social  difficulties.  The 
breaking  away  of  the  individual  from  the 
institutional  restraints  of  another  age  has 
resulted  in  placing  people,  in  a  religious 
point  of  view,  outside  of  the  general  cov- 
enant relation  with  the  church  by  baptism, 
which,  if  it  did  not  impart  to  them  per- 
sonal righteousness,  at  least  maintained 
the  feeling  of  relationship  to  a  great  re- 
ligious order,  which  was  not  without  some 
general  influence  upon  their  lives.  They 
now  simply  stand  up  in  the  social  ranks, 
entirely  ignoring  the  work  of  an  institution 
which,  regarded  even  in  a  worldly  point  of 
view,  is  the  complement  of  the  state  in 
regulating  the  life  of  society.  Speaking 
generally,  the   church   to-day  is  an   insti- 


5^        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

tution  maintained  by  those  who  are  able 
to  support  it.  In  democratic  society  it 
derives  no  advantage  from  the  state  and 
asks  no  favors,  but  stands  aside  from 
the  rush  of  political  and  industrial  inter- 
ests and  deals  by  consent  with  the  un- 
worldly element  in  life.  The  day  has  for- 
ever passed  when  the  threats  of  excom- 
munication can  make  men  tremble.  The 
power  of  the  church  as  a  spiritual  cor- 
poration armed  with  extreme  penalties 
has  been  lost  and  is  not  to  return.  Its 
strength  is  no  longer  in  its  penalties, 
but  in  its  relations  of  service  to  the  uni- 
versal brotherhood  of  men.  It  is  the 
collective  church  which  is  here  spoken 
of,  not  this  or  that  section  of  it ;  and  this 
collective  church  stands  in  a  peculiarly 
transitional  relation  to  modern  society. 
In  our  free  and  individual  life,  it  is 
impossible  to  maintain  its  supremacy 
along  the  old  lines  of  procedure,  and 
there  is  a  general  halt  to  see  what  it  is 
best  to  do.      Different  families  of   Chris- 


The  Church  in  the  World,  ^^ 

tians  have  worked  out  different  results ; 
some  have  verged  to  the  extreme  of  de- 
mocracy in  their  methods,  and  others  still 
cling  with  great  tenacity  to  a  style  of 
thought  and  methods  of  work  which  re- 
strict their  influence  chiefly  to  special 
classes  of  people.  Amid  these  divisions, 
the  narrowness  of  the  sect  has  the  power 
to  restrict  the  range  of  thought  and  keep 
our  different  organizations  of  Christianity 
from  seeing  the  situation  in  the  large. 
It  has  been  remarked  that  American  re- 
ligious bodies  have  shown  less  power  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  changed  con- 
ditions of  modern  society  than  the  mother 
churches  in  Europe  from  which  they 
sprang.  This  is  undoubtedly  true,  and 
the  greatest  weakness  of  our  collective 
Christianity  to-day  is  that  the  leaders  of 
its  different  sections  have  too  little  ca- 
pacity to  rise  to  a  clear  view  of  the  po- 
sition in  which  Christianity  stands  to  the 
whole  American  people.  There  is  no 
national  religion  corresponding,  in  breadth 


^6        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

of  view  and  in  elasticity  of  methods,  to  our 
national  government,  and  men  see,  for  the 
most  part,  only  so  far  as  the  limits  of 
the  sect  with  which  they  are  connected. 
This  prevents  the  adaptation  of  our  re- 
ligious methods  to  the  needs  of  the  people 
as  a  whole,  as  an  integral  portion  of  man- 
kind. The  organization  of  our  religious 
life  is  too  narrow  for  its  proper  expansion. 
It  is  found  that  our  government,  though 
not  changed  in  its  fundamental  principles, 
is  constantly  changing  in  the  stress  brought 
to  bear  upon  this  or  that  part  of  our  gen- 
eral system,  and  the  same  process  is  going 
on  irresistibly  in  the  ecclesiastical  life  of 
the  people.  There  is  an  appeal  to  a  con- 
stantly growing  conception  of  life.  It  is 
the  free  expansion  of  this  life  which  the 
churches,  wedded  to  methods  of  work 
or  conceptions  of  doctrine  which  have 
served  their  purpose,  are  too  slow  to 
appreciate ;  and  it  is  here  that  the  great 
gap  is  found  to-day  between  the  Ameri- 
can  church    and    American    life.      Until 


The  Church  in  the  IVorLi.  57 

the  church  in  the  person  of  its  leaders 
rises  to  the  conception  of  its  duty  to  give 
a  fresh  social  conception  to  Christianity, 
a  conception  which  manifests  insight  into 
the  present  ordering  of  life  and  displays 
the  mastery  of  its  conditions,  the  masses 
of  the  people  must  continue  to  feel  that 
for  all  their  higher  interests  the  different 
religious  societies  can  do  them  little  good. 
When  the  whole  world  is  entering  upon 
a  new  development  of  industrial  and  com- 
mercial possibihties,  it  stands  to  reason 
that  neither  the  church  nor  the  state  can 
occupy  the  same  position  that  they  held 
a  century  ago.  The  state  has  changed ; 
it  responds  with  alacrity  to  the  convictions 
of  the  people  ;  but  the  church,  because  it 
deals,  not  with  the  temporalities  of  the 
people,  but  with  their  spiritual  condition, 
has  made  the  mistake  of  separating  in  its 
thought  and  management  the  industrial 
and  social  from  the  moral  and  spiritual 
life.  The  line  of  separation  may  be  im- 
aginary, but  it  exists  in  the  class  or  club 


5^        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

idea  as  the  basis  of  church  action,  and 
in  prejudices  to  this  end  which  are  not 
easily  eradicated  from  the  minds  of  those 
who  have  nothing  to  gain  in  a  worldly 
sense  from  ecclesiastical  connections.  The 
church  is  in  the  world,  if  it  fulfills  its 
mission,  not  to  help  those  who  have  most 
present  advantages,  but  to  leaven  society 
not  less  than  the  lives  of  individual  men 
and  women  with  the  mind  and  the  spirit 
which  were  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  this 
large  and  free  and  modern  conception  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  which  is  yet  to  be 
fully  realized  among  us.  It  is  here  that 
the  broader  Kingdom  of  God  is  to  be 
begun. 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  to-day  all  that 
it  ever  was  in  its  essence,  in  its  spiritual 
functions,  in  its  possession  of  the  spirit 
of  the  living  God.  The  individual,  in 
the  growth  of  his  sense  of  personality, 
in  the  possibilities  of  his  greater  personal 
development,  in  his  mastery  of  the  world 
beyond  himself,  is  more  than  he  ever  was. 


The  Church  in  the  World.  ^9 

This  individual  is  the  representative  of 
the  forces  in  the  world  which  are  yet  to  be 
controlled  and  elevated  by  spiritual  means, 
and  the  Church  of  Christ  is  still  the  chief 
instrument  by  which  the  moral  regenera- 
tion of  society  is  to  be  effected.  How  shall 
the  church  be  reinforced  to  meet  the  just 
expectations  of  those  who  believe  in  its 
instrumental  power  ?  How  shall  it  re- 
ceive back  into  its  fold  the  children  of 
those  who  have  broken  away  from  its 
sanctions  and  discipline  ?  How  shall  the 
conscience  that  anticipates  and  maintains 
justice  be  restored  to  the  social  and  in- 
dustrial life  of  the  community  ?  How 
shall  the  toiling  millions  be  made  to  feel 
that  there  is  anything  in  life  but  a  toil- 
some journey  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  ? 
Is  the  Christian  Church  to  command  the 
situation,  or  are  the  people  connected  with 
religious  societies  to  be  one  company, 
and  the  persons  who  have  lost  all  hope 
of  any  betterment  of  life  through  the 
church  to  form  another  ?     These  questions 


6o        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

are  asked,  not  by  the  careless  and  unthink- 
ing, but  by  those  who  survey  the  religious 
interests  of  the  people  in  their  national 
significance.  It  is  one  thing  to  reckon 
the  host  of  Israel  and  count  numbers  as 
prosperity ;  it  is  quite  another  to  bring 
the  Ark  of  God  into  the  centre  of  the 
host  where  its  presence  shall  reanimate 
all  men  with  the  convictions  for  which  it 
stands. 

What  does  society  most  need  to-day.? 
The  industrial  revolution  is  scarcely  more 
marked  than  the  political  revolution. 
There  is  an  unmistakable  unwillingness 
to  go  to  the  past  for  antecedents  or  for 
authority.  The  thought  of  every  man  is 
occupied  with  the  work  of  reconstruction, 
and  there  is  no  sphere  of  life  or  thought 
which  escapes  this  ordeal.  The  religious 
interests  of  the  community  are  under  the 
same  movement,  and  what  is  called  the 
"new  theology"  is  nothing  more  than  the 
adaptation  of  abiding  truths  to  the  changed 
conditions  of  thousfht.     The  church  moves 


The  Church  in  the  IVorld.  6i 

last  because  it  is  naturally  even  more  in- 
stitutional in  its  character  than  the  state, 
slower  to  receive  new  ideas,  and  more 
powerful  to  hold  society  steadfast  to  what 
is  of  permanent  obligation.  All  the  ele- 
ments of  society  are  in  motion  to-day,  but 
the  political  and  industrial  attract  most  at- 
tention because  they  are  most  immediate 
and  affect  the  greatest  number  of  people. 
The  first  need  of  such  a  time  as  our  own 
is  that  moral  principles  shall  have  unim- 
paired influence.  This  is  a  simple  point  to 
make,  but  whoever  has  watched  the  devel- 
opment of  the  industrial  issues  between 
the  capitalists  and  the  workmen  whom  they 
employ  will  have  noted  that  every  question 
between  them  involves  a  moral  principle. 
The  one  party  is  attempting  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  other.  The  state  may  in- 
terpose as  arbitrator,  but  though  in  its 
evolution  it  is  as  a  whole  a  moral  agent 
and  is  endowed  with  moral  personality,  it 
is  only  commissioned  to  act  under  the 
forms  of  law,  and  these  forms  are  the  only 


62        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

expression  of  moral  purpose  with  which 
the  state  is  directly  concerned.  The  gov- 
ernment is  an  arrangement  for  the  regula- 
tion of  liberty.  The  inspiration  and  up- 
lifting of  society  comes  from  another  quar- 
ter. The  moral  purpose  comes  from  in- 
dividuals ;  but  its  solidarity  is  not  secured 
through  single  individuals,  no  matter  how 
valuable  their  moral  qualities  may  be,  but 
through  the  aggregate  or  corporate  pres- 
entation of  their  influence  in  the  forms  of 
institutional  life.  To  illustrate :  the  re- 
ligious society  in  a  particular  village  may 
contain  perhaps  half-a-dozen  individuals 
who  have  great  personal  influence ;  but 
their  weight  as  individuals  is  one  thing, 
and  the  influence  of  the  Christian  organ- 
ization which  absorbs  their  moral  weight 
and  converts  it  into  institutional  power  for 
righteousness  in  the  community  is  im- 
mensely greater  and  more  powerful.  This 
is  the  difference  between  personaUty  and 
institutional  power.  This  is  the  vantage 
ground   of   the    Christian    Church    as    an 


The  Church  in  the  World,  6^ 

influence  in  the  present  changes  of  society. 
If  the  permanently  valuable  elements  of 
our  social  order  are  retained,  it  will  be 
because  the  direct  and  indirect  forces  of 
righteousness  which  go  forth  from  the 
aggregated  Christian  organizations  of  the 
land  have  acquired  the  institutional  power 
to  prevail  over  the  looseness  and  weakness 
of  individual  life. 

There  is  more  than  the  need  of  moral 
principles.  There  is  the  need  of  a  larger 
estimate  of  the  value  and  meaning  of  life, 
which  comes  not  from  the  sense  of  justice, 
though  it  has  this  sense  behind  it,  but 
from  a  recognition  of  each  man's  right  to 
live  and  enjoy  a  fair  share  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  that  are  the  common  inher- 
itance of  all.  The  relations  between  man 
and  man  are  not  elevated  enough  to  secure 
this  result  ;  you  are  not  sure  of  it ;  the 
state,  though  divine  as  an  institution,  does 
not  emphasize  the  divine  sanctions  of  so- 
cial action.  But  when  the  Christian  motive 
of  kindliness  is  introduced  and  Christian 


64        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

brotherhood  is  felt  to  be  the  model  of  so- 
cial order  as  God  would  have  it,  life  takes 
on  a  new  character  and  the  world  is  a  good 
place  to  live  in.  It  is  Christianity  felt  in 
the  community  as  a  permanent  institution 
of  society  which  adds  this  grace  to  life. 
The  moral  atmosphere  of  a  town  or  city  is 
the  impression  which  is  produced  by  the 
general  influence  of  the  church  among  the 
people.  The  closer  the  church  is  connected 
with  the  interests  of  the  community  the 
stronger  is  the  impression  it  makes  ;  and  it 
is  this  influence,  the  action  of  the  church 
upon  the  family  and  upon  public  opinion, 
and  their  combined  action  upon  the  in- 
dividual, which  is  chiefly  to  impart  cheer 
to  the  great  company  of  bread-winners  in 
the  slow  evolution  of  new  relations  be- 
tween capital  and  labor.  The  state  admin- 
isters justice  as  between  man  and  man. 
The  church  appeals  to  the  conscience  and 
kindles  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong ; 
it  stands  between  both  parties,  as  often 
allied  with  the  one  as  with  the  other,  but 


The  Church  in  the  World.  65 

never  the  antagonist  of  either  ;  it  has  the 
difficult  task  of  obtaining  recognition  for 
an  authority  which  is  the  highest  influence 
in  life,  and  yet  has  no  power  to  compel 
direct  assent  or  obedience  to  its  injunc- 
tions ;  it  deals  with  immaterial  forces,  and 
its  influence  is  often  strongest  when  its 
direct  authority  is  least.  The  touch  that 
is  to  renew  the  hopes  of  men  and  again 
make  life  delightful  is  the  touch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  the  touch  of  a  helping 
hand  among  the  poor,  the  touch  of  kindli- 
ness of  heart  in  dealing  with  one  another, 
the  touch  of  a  keener  sense  of  what  can  be 
done  for  humanity  at  large,  the  touch  of  a 
relation  in  which  the  forces  of  a  divine 
love  are  felt  in  the  ordinary  circumstances 
of  life. 

To  sum  it  all  up  in  a  sentence,  it  is  the 
ethical  relation  of  the  church  to  the  com- 
munity which  is  most  powerful  to-day ;  it 
is  the  influence  which  changes  society 
while  it  changes  the  individual.  And  this 
result  is  not  reached  by  the  usual  instru- 


66        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

mentalities,  because  they  are  not  ethically 
adequate  for  the  work  expected  of  them,- 
The  church  is  apt  to  be  formalized,  and  its 
methods  are  too  much  the  methods  of  a 
past  generation.  The  successful  method 
is  that  which  deals  with  the  present  con- 
victions of  men  and  women  as  to  the  social 
pressure  in  daily  life,  and  is  able  to  carry 
their  hopes  and  thoughts  to  a  higher  level. 
Wherever  this  method  —  which  is  not  a 
stereotyped  method  but  depends  upon  the 
kind  of  sympathy  that  different  neighbor- 
hoods need  —  has  been  employed,  the  re- 
sponse has  been  immediate  and  gratifying. 
There  is  no  time  like  one  of  profound  social 
and  industrial  agitation  in  which  to  put 
truth  before  men  with  the  hope  that  it 
may  take  root  in  their  hearts  and  bring 
forth  fruit  in  their  lives.  The  formal 
things  of  the  church,  however  important  in 
themselves  as  the  conservators  of  spiritual 
order,  are  not  like  the  ethical  power  of  the 
spirit  of  life.  The  work  of  the  church  is 
to  change  and  renew  lives,  and  this   is  to 


The  Church  in  the  World.  6y 

be  accomplished  through  its  general  rela- 
tion to  society  and  through  its  special  re- 
lation to  individuals.  But  its  work  is  not 
confined  to  its  own  members.  It  has  the 
world  as  its  field,  and  its  formative  work 
in  the  entire  round  of  human  effort  is  the 
sphere  in  which  the  call  is  now  most 
urs^ent.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
chronic  disturbances  in  industry  have  the 
deepest  ethical  interest.  They  are  the  re- 
sult of  slow  changes  in  the  general  struc- 
ture of  society;  they  are  the  evolution  of  a 
new  industrial  order  ;  they  are  the  result 
of  economic  forces  which  are  as  yet  im- 
perfectly estimated.  What  they  imply 
may  be  an  advance  for  the  race,  but  the 
advance  like  all  progress  will  be  by  spiral 
lines,  not  rapid,  not  always  assuring,  not 
equal  to  human  wishes,  but  waiting  on  the 
command  of  the  Divine  Ruler  of  men. 
The  advance,  the  enlightenment,  will  be 
the  gradual  perception,  amid  great  and  con- 
tinuous disorder,  of  the  essential  and  true 
brotherhood    of    men    under    a    common 


68        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

Father.  It  is  the  church  as  the  guide  and 
inspiration  of  humanity  which  is  most 
needed  to-day,  and  it  is  this  character  of 
the  church  which  is  now  brought  forward 
where  its  work  is  most  successful.  The 
demand  is  that  the  ordinary  life  of  men 
shall  be  improved,  and  it  is  felt  that  in 
some  vague  way,  though  the  world  is  full 
of  the  manifestations  of  human  kindliness, 
the  church  is  able  to  secure  this  improve- 
ment and  renewal.  The  church  has  long 
been  the  pet  of  the  higher  classes  and  the 
luxury  of  the  few ;  it  is  felt  alike  within 
and  without  its  confines  that  the  time  has 
come  for  its  broader  identification  with 
all  the  interests  of  life.  The  ethical  work 
of  the  future  will  be  this  identification. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


The  Inclusive  Church. 


nr^HE  realization  of  the  presence  of  God 
-*-  in  the  forces  of  the  world  is  one  of 
the  difficulties  which  human  experience 
has  done  little  to  remove.  It  seems  often 
easier  to  see  God  in  nature  than  in  the 
processes  of  life.  The  evidence  of  a  per- 
sonal Deity  is  demonstrated  in  nature  by 
the  witness  of  mind  directing  what  men 
call  law ;  but  in  the  sphere  of  the  moral 
and  social  world,  where  the  will  of  man 
has  to  do  with  the  ordering  of  life,  where 
the  complexity  of  existence  hides  the  sim- 
plicity of  action,  it  seems  as  if  God  were 
out  of  sight,  and  the  convictions  of  society 
go  far  to  conceal  his  presence.  In  the 
sphere  of  secondary  causes  it  requires 
some  effort  to  go  behind  their  action  and 
realize  the  direction  of  God  in  the  world  ; 


JO        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

and  yet  the  higher  life  of   every  man  is 
based  upon  the  immanence  of   God  in  our 
daily   life.      Human    actions    are  right   or 
wrong  as  they  are  in  harmony  with  or  con- 
tradict the  ultimate  standard  which  in  the 
last  analysis  is  believed  to  be  the  will  of 
God.     Human  events  seem  for  a  genera- 
tion to  be  in  the  hands  of  human  leaders, 
and  we  see  the  marks  of  their  grasp  of 
things;  but  in  the  space  of  two  or  three 
generations  the  order   of  events    and  the 
action    of   ideas    upon   the   social  life  are 
seen  to  be  under  the  control  of  a  higher 
law  of  continuity  than  that  of  human  de- 
sign.    Men  lose  their  hold  of  affairs,  but 
God  never  relaxes  his  grasp ;  and  in  the 
long   avenues    of   history    men    note    that 
One  who  is  unseen  has  builded  better  than 
they  knew.     Human   consciousness  is  the 
great  centre  of  appeal  for  the  unity  of  im- 
pressions, stronger  or  weaker  in  different 
persons,  which  recognize  the  presence  of 
God   in  the  life  of  men.     There  are  few 
well-developed  minds  that  do  not  in  some 


The  Inclusive  Church.  yi 

way  acknowledge  this  presence  and  wait 
upon  its  manifestations.  Much  as  the 
world  is  run  by  the  power  of  will  and  by 
rnaterial  forces  that  are  under  the  control 
of  will,  there  is  a  consciousness,  not  born 
of  superstition,  which  recognizes  the  divine 
movement  in  human  society.  It  is  not  ob- 
trusive, but  like  the  music  of  the  spheres 
it  is  heard  and  felt  when  it  is  listened  for 
and  noted.  Elijah  heard  the  still  small 
voice  when  he  found  that  there  was  noth- 
ing in  the  raging  of  the  elements  that  had 
preceded  it ;  and  he  heard  it  partly  be- 
cause his  mind  and  heart  were  prepared 
to  listen  for  it. 

The  practical  inference  from  this  large 
consciousness  that  God  is  ordering  human 
society  after  a  plan  not  fully  disclosed  to 
mankind,  is  that  his  presence  is  specially 
revealed  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  agencies 
which  control  the  direction  of  life.  God 
is  revealed  in  the  family  as  the  agency 
not  only  for  the  propagation  of  life  but 
for  the  training  of   life  according  to  the 


y2        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

best    light    that    our   experience    affords. 
The   household    in    which   we   spend   our 
earliest   years    is    the   training    school   in 
which  our  first  impressions  are  fixed,  and 
in   which    they   are    most    firmly    rooted. 
This  is  a  natural  school ;    it  is  a  part  of 
one's  birthright.     But  it  is  only  one  of  the 
agencies  by  which  the  life  of  the  individual 
is    controlled.      The    civil    and    industrial 
and  political  sphere,  which  is  considered 
as  the  totality  of  the  state  in  its  relation 
to  personal  life,  is  the  complement  of  the 
family  training  and    constitutes   the   field 
in  which  one  finds    his   place  and  useful- 
ness.    This  has  its  material  side,  as  also 
has  the  family  ;  but  in  its  higher  character 
the  state  is  a  moral  and  even  a  spiritual 
organism,  through  which   God  acts  upon 
civil    society   and    educates    mankind    for 
their  several  duties.     The  church,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  family  and  the  state, 
is  exclusively  a  moral  and  spiritual  agency. 
It  is  concerned  with  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual direction  and  education    of   mankind. 


The  Inclusive  Church.  7^ 

Whether  you  take  close  or  large  ideas 
of  its  functions  in  human  society,  it  is 
nothing  less  than  an  agency,  like  the  state 
and  the  family,  which  is  universal  in  its 
oversight  of  Hfe  and  in  its  spiritual  pur- 
pose toward  mankind.  While  God  is 
everywhere  and  no  one  escapes  his  ob- 
servation, there  is  a  closer  sense  in  which 
God  is  in  his  church  and  has  committed 
to  it  certain  large  interests  pertaining 
to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  Take  the 
Church  of  the  Jews  for  an  illustration. 
This  was  a  church  coextensive  with  the 
nation,  protecting  its  moral  and  spiritual 
interests,  and  constantly  dealing  with  the 
people  as  a  race  under  covenant  relations. 
There  is  a  largeness  about  the  Church  of 
the  Jews  which  aptly  shows  how  the  in- 
stitutional life  of  the  people  was  repre- 
sented by  it.  It  is  always  the  national 
body.  It  cares  for  the  interests  of  the 
people  as  a  race.  It  furnishes  our  best 
example  in  history  of  the  way  in  which 
the    race-consciousness    of    a    remarkably 


^4        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

spiritual  people  was  controlled  by  religious 
instrumentalities.  Ewald  has  brought  out 
this  feature  of  the  theocracy  strongly  in 
his  "  History  of  Israel,"  and  whoever 
studies  the  Old  Testament  with  ordinary 
attention  will  realize  it  for  himself.  The 
church  and  the  state  were  almost  identical 
in  the  Jewish  theocracy,  but  the  illus- 
tration shows  in  what  sense  the  Christian 
Church  becomes  a  living  force  even  in 
a  modern  community  when  it  acts  upon 
society  as  a  corporate  whole.  In  Chris- 
tian history  there  are  many  instances  in 
which  the  church  has  had  a  controlling 
power  over  great  peoples  and  given  them 
a  unity  in  their  development  under  the 
forms  of  civil  society  which  they  could 
not  otherwise  have  reached.  Where  a 
race  or  a  nation  has  come  under  the  lead 
of  a  comprehensive  spiritual  organization, 
there  has  been  a  corresponding  largeness 
of  purpose  or  design  ;  and  in  a  formal  way 
God  is  said  to  dwell  with  these  people 
through  his  church  as  well  as  in  their  in- 


The  Inclusive  Church.         '     y^ 

dividual  hearts.  There  is  something  im- 
plied in  the  formal  church  which  is  less 
implicitly  expressed  in  the  world  outside. 
The  church  is  the  sphere  of  man's  spirit- 
ual education.  It  is  represented  by  hun- 
dreds of  parishes,  reaching  to  every  col- 
lection of  individuals  throughout  the  land, 
coming  down  through  the  methods  of 
doing  spiritual  work  in  these  parishes  to 
the  individual  mind  and  conscience,  and 
working  the  personal  regeneration  of  man- 
kind. It  is  a  great  organization  of  in- 
strumentalities, which  not  only  affects 
society  in  the  large,  but  penetrates  like 
the  sunlight  into  the  darkest  recesses  of 
humanity.  It  is  not  discharging  its  func- 
tions successfully  when  it  is  simply  an 
ecclesiastical  organization  which  covers  a 
certain  territory,  or  when  it  exerts  its 
power  in  a  formal  way  in  upholding  moral 
and  spiritual  agencies  in  the  country  ;  it 
needs  the  complement  of  personal  expe- 
rience of  the  message  of  God  through 
Christ  to  the  individual  soul  before  it  can 


y6        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

be  said  that  the  church  has  measured  the 
true  reason  of  its  power.  All  compre- 
hensive ideas  of  Christianity  need  to  be 
supplemented  by  the  personal  relation  in 
which  the  soul  stands  to  God  before  they 
can  operate  with  the  warmth  and  strength 
that  belong  to  them.  The  comprehensive 
church  is  nothing  more  than  the  Chris- 
tianity which  is  before  the  country  in  the 
aggregate,  but  when  considered  in  its  com- 
prehensive form  or  in  the  totality  of  its  in- 
fluence it  stands  out  quite  differently  from 
what  it  seems  in  the  light  of  its  divisions. 
The  one  thing  that  has  been  missed  in 
our  own  country  has  been  this  compre- 
hensive form  of  Christianity.  There  has 
been  not  only  no  national  organization 
of  religion,  but  most  Christians  have  never 
thought  or  worked  outside  of  the  religious 
cliques  in  which  they  were  brought  up  or 
in  which  they  have  found  themselves. 
The  church  has  not  been  thought  of  as 
an  institution  as  grand,  as  comprehensive, 
as  universal,  as  all-embracing  as  our  na- 


The  Inclusive  Church.  yy 

tional  consciousness.  It  has  not  been 
regarded  as  coextensive  with  the  nation 
and  the  family  among  the  institutions  by 
which  God  permits  men  to  govern  the 
world.  It  has  not  lifted  its  voice  in  na- 
tional affairs  as  the  Hebrew  prophets  lifted 
up  their  voices  at  critical  periods  in  the 
history  of  Israel.  It  has  not  made  itself 
felt  as  a  unit 'in  dictating  the  national 
policy  on  questions  in  which  ethics  enter 
as  a  national  factor.  It  has  not  controlled 
and  guided  our  civilization  so  as  to  give 
a  Christian  character  to  the  national  con- 
sciousness. It  has  not  carried  into  the 
world's  life  the  emphatic  convictions  of 
a  Christian  people.  American  Christianity 
is  weak  to-day  because  it  has  no  recog- 
nized voice.  There  is  no  national  note 
about  it.  Whether  Protestant  or  Catholic, 
it  is  the  religion  of  specialists,  and  has  no 
national  or  race  significance.  In  a  certain 
sense,  it  fails  to  carry  the  weight  of  God 
behind  it.  It  speaks  for  something  less 
than  this,  when  the  full  weight  of  God's 


^8        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

commission  to  an  authorized  church,  which 
is  also  the  church  of  the  people  of  the 
nation,  is  not  its  charter  and  its  present 
consciousness.  The  restoration  of  this 
consciousness  ;  the  reaching  out  to  national 
conceptions  of  Christianity ;  the  making 
of  the  religion  of  the  people  as  significant 
as  their  politics ;  the  placing  of  the  em- 
phasis upon  great  and  central  ideas  of 
national  morality,  of  national  education, 
of  the  national  bearing  of  industrial,  eco- 
nomic, and  social  questions  ;  the  reaching 
of  something  like  unity  in  the  general 
spiritual  consciousness  of  the  people, — is 
the  direction  in  which  the  immanence  of 
God  in  human  society,  and  especially  in 
the  moral  and  spiritual  agencies  through 
which  society  expresses  itself,  takes  on 
the  character  of  nationality.  The  Church 
of  Christ  is  but  a  poor  makeshift  so  long 
as  it  comes  short  in  modern  society  of 
the  greatness  and  the  majesty  of  the 
Jewish  Church  when  that  organization 
controlled    Hebrew   existence.       So    long 


The  Inclusive  Church.  yg 

as  it  depends  upon  this  or  that  sectarian 
and  partial  exhibition  of  its  capabilities 
in  dealing  with  the  questions  which  con- 
cern humanity,  so  long  as  it  stops  short 
of  realizing  its  progressive  power  through 
the  devising  of  liberal  things,  so  long  as 
it  fails  to  hold  before  the  community  the 
greatness  and  the  grandeur  of  Christian 
institutions,  it  will  fail  to  fulfill  its  divine 
mission  in  society.  The  church  to-day 
in  America  no  longer  satisfies  anybody 
who  considers  its  possibilities  and  com- 
pares them  with  its  performance.  And 
this  dissatisfaction  is  largely  due  to  the 
smallness  of  the  conception  of  what  Chris- 
tianity is ;  to  the  consideration  of  its  de- 
velopment as  a  sectarian  institution,  set 
to  the  propagation  of  certain  ideas  and 
not  careful  to  see  whether  they  are  in 
accord  with  the  large  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity which  includes  the  whole  of  a 
nation's  existence  and  interests  ;  and  to 
the  contentment  of  people  with  the  im- 
perfect working  out  of  the  ideas  of  social 


8o        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

and  spiritual  uplifting  which  constitute 
the  concrete  power  of  Christianity  in  the 
community. 

The  Church  of  Christ,  operative  in  the 
affairs  of  men  as  the  chief  agency  for 
righteousness  in  the  world,  should  express 
the  largest  conception  of  the  higher  life 
which  it  is  possible  to  entertain.  In 
Plato's  Republic  the  ideal  state  passes  in 
its  beautiful  form  before  the  eye,  and  its 
functions  correspond  to  the  perfect  life. 
Likewise  in  the  Christian  Church  the  ideal 
of  what  the  church  in  its  collective  form 
ought  to  be  passes  in  view  before  the 
mind's  eye,  and  its  possibilities  of  service 
to  modern  society  are  more  delightful 
when  traced  with  the  imagination  than 
when  they  are  made  to  tally  with  actual 
fact.  The  church  of  to-day  has  to  recover 
what  it  has  lost  since  the  end  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  and  the  rise  of  civil  society. 
Then  it  controlled  education,  social  insti- 
tutions, the  great  guilds,  the  family  life,  the 
entire  outward  existence  of  men.     It  had 


The  Inclusive  Church,  8i 

the  word  of  command  over  social  life. 
Afterwards,  the  individual  man,  the  repre- 
sentative of  personal  Uberty,  appeared  and 
broke  the  spell  of  this  charmed  existence. 
It  was  then  said  that  the  church  existed 
to  save  the  individual  soul ;  and  when  the 
Reformation  came,  it  was  the  individual 
soul  that  men  thought  of,  not  the  saving 
of  society.  The  one  ought  never  to  have 
been  separated  from  the  other.  In  the 
Roman  and  in  the  Anglican  Churches  the 
one  has  always  been  considered  as  impor- 
tant as  the  other ;  but  wherever  pure  Pro- 
testantism has  prevailed,  the  social  side 
of  Christianity  has  been  lost  to  a  great 
extent,  because  the  stress  has  been  laid  too 
exclusively  upon  the  renewal  of  the  indi- 
vidual soul.  The  institutional  conception 
of  Christian  society  has  been  overlooked. 
Accordingly,  Christianity  is  what  you  see 
it' almost  everywhere  in  America,  a  move- 
ment bearing  the  character  of  a  spent  or  a 
misapplied  or  an  unwisely  directed  force. 
This  religious  body  believes  in  the  univer- 


82        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

sality  of  the  atonement ;  that  organization 
holds  to  the  speedy  second  coming  of  our 
Lord  ;  one  would  put  the  stress  of  the  true 
church  on  a  mode  of  baptism  ;  another 
would  find  the  centre  of  interest  in  an 
emotional  experience  called  conversion ; 
another  would  rest  the  salvation  of  men 
upon  the  acceptance  of  the  perfect  man- 
hood of  the  historical  Christ ;  another 
would  exalt  Luther's  dogma  of  justification 
by  faith  to  the  central  place  in  the  Chris- 
tian system ;  still  another  would  throw 
away  the  entire  Christian  Church  and  begin 
anew  with  the  teachings  of  Swedenborg. 
There  is  no  unity  in  the  conception  of  the 
Christian  religion  in  these  discordant  sys- 
tems, nothing  which  raises  the  enthusiasm 
of  humanity,  nothing  which  heartens  one 
to  believe  in  Christianity  itself ;  it  is  an 
opinion  about  the  Christian  religion  with 
an  argumentative  support  derived  from 
the  Bible,  but  there  is  no  power  in  it 
to  grasp  vigorously  the  issues  of  life  in 
the    community    and    lead    them    in    large 


The  Inclusive  Church.  8^ 

directions.  People  become  religious,  but 
their  convictions  are  not  compacted  into 
regenerative  motive  power.  Religious  in- 
fluence becomes  conservative  and  conven- 
tional, and  the  spiritual  thought  moves  in 
hard  and  well-worn  ruts.  There  is  not 
enough  strength  in  this  conventional 
Christianity  to  save  it  from  dying.  Par- 
ishes and  ministers  go  their  feeble  rounds 
of  routine  service,  but  there  is  no  enthu- 
siasm in  the  work,  and  everything  dies 
like  vegetation  in  a  time  of  drought  be- 
cause there  is  a  lack  of  vitality  in  the 
earth  and  the  air.  This  condition  of  af- 
fairs is  familiar  to  all  who  have  any  expe- 
rience with  the  different  forms  in  which 
American  Christianity  has  expressed  itself. 
It  is  felt  that  the  Christian  religion  is 
immensely  larger  than  the  common  moulds 
in  which  it  has  been  shaped  and  presented 
to  men. 

The  condition  of  things  in  our  own  coun- 
try turns  one  back  to  first  principles.  The 
Church  of  Christ  needs  to  be  idealized.     It 


84       The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

is  more  inclusive,  more  controlling,  more 
comprehensive,  more  helpful,  more  educa- 
ting, more  inspiring,  more  soul-strengthen- 
ing, than  it  seems  when  it  is  seen  in  the 
hard  realism  of  its  actual  limitations  and 
conditions.  It  is  well  to  keep  the  ideal 
before  men  in  order  that  they  may  rise  to 
the  conception  of  ideal  manhood,  and  the 
same  is  true  of  an  institution  which  stands 
out  in  human  society  as  the  incarnation  of 
the  Divine  Life.  The  church  is  the  bride 
of  Christ.  It  is  the  pillar  and  the  ground 
of  truth.  It  is  the  conservator  of  the 
divine  movement  in  the  world  as  it  was 
once  expressed  in  the  Hebrew  history  and 
as  it  has  been  manifested  in  the  historical 
facts  concerning  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the 
institution  which  first  among  the  Hebrews, 
and  since  the  nativity  of  Jesus  Christ 
among  the  Gentiles,  has  been  the  ''light 
of  the  world."  It  is  the  continuous  testi- 
mony to  a  power  that  acts  upon  the  souls 
of  men  as  the  family  acts  upon  their  child- 
hood, and   as    the   state   acts    upon    their 


The  Inclusive  Church.  8^ 

mature  life.  But  in  the  family  and  in  the 
state  the  testimony  of  the  divine  life  is 
seen  in  the  course  of  ordinary  nature ;  it 
is  the  continuous  control  of  life  for  be- 
neficent ends.  The  church  undertakes  to 
deal,  not  only  with  the  social  sphere  in 
which  men  find  their  field  of  practical  use- 
fulness, but  with  the  higher  life,  the  rela- 
tion of  the  soul  to  God,  the  union  of  man 
with  God,  the  development  of  the  control 
of  all  human  life  by  the  recognition  of  its 
central  source  in  God,  the  power  breathed 
into  men  of  being  united  by  spiritual  ties 
with  the  Christ,  so  that  in  reaching  his 
perfect  manhood  they  may  reach  the  iden- 
tification of  the  human  will  with  the  divine 
will,  which  is  the  source  of  the  perfectness 
of  his  own  life.  Everything  in  the  aim 
and  purpose  of  the  church  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  Christ  on  earth  is  to  lift  hu- 
manity into  some  faint  human  realization 
of  what  finds  its  ideal  expression  in  the 
life  and  work  of  Christ  as  the  Son  of  Man 
and  also  the  Son  of  God. 


86        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

We  go  to  Christ,  and  to  what  the  apos- 
tles have  told  us  of  his  plans,  for  the  work- 
ing ideas  of  the  Christian  Church  at  any  age 
of  the  world.  And  as  often  as  reformers, 
who  did  not  aim  at  the  inauguration  of  a 
new  dispensation,  but  only  at  the  restora- 
tion of  what  they  thought  the  church  had 
lost  in  its  contact  with  the  state  and  the 
family,  have  returned  to  the  simplicity  of 
Christ's  plans  for  the  regeneration  of  the 
individual  or  of  society,  the  blessing  of 
God  has  attended  their  efforts.  The  re- 
sult has  proved  the  inspiration  that  exists 
in  the  collective  church  and  in  its  power 
as  the  representative  of  Christ  to  regen- 
erate the  world.  It  is  this  Church,  of 
which  the  existing  divisions  of  the  Chris- 
tian family  are  the  aggregate  whole,  which 
in  any  nation  is  the  instrumentality  for 
treating  men  as  the  children  of  God  and 
teaching  them  their  relations  and  duties 
to  him.  The  church  embraces  every  in- 
terest which  pertains  to  the  individual  or 
social  life  in  the  community.      It  is  first 


The  Inclusive  Church.  8y 

of  all  an  instrumentality  for  bringing  the 
individual  into  closer  relations  with  God 
through  the  remission  of  sin  and  the  in- 
spiration of  help  for  a  better  living.  Chris- 
tianity gave  men  at  the  beginning  the 
conception  of  the  duties  and  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  individual.  It  dealt  with 
man  not  as  a  member  of  the  common- 
wealth, like  that  of  the  Jews,  but  as  a  re- 
sponsible being  who  had  his  duties  to  God, 
as  the  Father  Almight)^  after  the  simili- 
tude of  his  duties  to  an  earthly  parent.  It 
magnified  the  personal  element  in  the  in- 
dividual till  it  reached  the  size  of  the  world. 
It  was  to  make  the  individual  soul  what 
God  created  it  capable  of  being  that  Christ 
became  incarnate,  and  took  the  lead  in 
human  redemption,  and  triumphed  as  the 
Son  of  God  in  the  resurrection.  But  this 
was  only  the  beginning  of  Christ's  work 
for  humanity.  What  Christ  had  done  for 
the  individual  man  he  was  to  do  for  his 
fellow.  Christianity  from  the  start  incul- 
cated the  brotherhood  of  mankind,  and  be- 


S8        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

came  as  broad  as  human  society.  It  not 
only  purposed  to  regenerate  the  individual, 
but  to  change  the  conditions  of  life  which 
surrounded  him.  It  has  reached  out  to  the 
state  on  the  one  hand  and  to  the  family  on 
the  other,  and  has  allied  itself  with  all 
kinds  of  natural  goodness,  until  it  has  in- 
fused its  spirit  into  every  form  of  human 
society.  This  has  been  its  twofold  mission 
in  the  world. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  its  true 
position  in  modern  life  is  to  be  considered. 
It  is  coextensive  with  the  whole  of  the 
interests  of  mankind ;  and  nothing  better 
shows  this  than  the  discovery,  in  our  socio- 
logical and  economic  studies  of  the  present 
day,  that  all  these  lower  questions  find 
their  solution  in  an  ethical  principle. 
Nothing  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  man 
can  be  attentively  considered  which  does 
not  lead  up  to  the  Church  of  Christ  as  an 
important  factor  in  the  solution  of  the 
problem.  Our  present  methods  of  realiz- 
ing the  power  of  the  church  in  the  world 


The  Inclusive  Church.  8g 

represent  certain  definite  ideas,  but  the 
progress  of  the  individual  in  modern  Hfe 
and  the  increased  complexity  of  society 
have  brought  the  Christian  Church  face  to 
face  v^^ith  the  gravest  matters  which  con- 
front mankind,  and  they  demand  from  its 
leaders,  if  the  church  be  indeed  what  they 
claim  for  it,  that  higher  direction  which  it 
should  have  as  the  keeper  of  the  oracles  of 
God.  The  whole  breadth  of  modern  life  is 
the  field  in  which  the  modern  church  is 
asked  to  expend  its  energies.  It  can  never 
again  go  back  to  the  simplicity  of  the  first 
Christian  centuries,  nor  to  the  small  ideas 
of  God's  ordering  of  the  world  which  used 
to  pass  for  an  adequate  description  of  the 
functions  of  the  church  in  society.  It 
must  either  advance  into  the  glorious  ser- 
vice and  destiny  which  open  out  to  it  in 
the  larger  life  of  men,  or  recede  to  an 
insignificant  position  among  the  forces 
which  govern  the  world.  There  is  an 
earnest  questioning  of  the  powers  that  be 
to-day  in  order  to  find  out  what  they  are 


go         The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

good  for.  Nothing  is  taken  for  granted, 
and  the  combination  of  the  historical  with 
the  scientific  method  is  felt  in  the  realm  of 
theology  not  less  than  in  the  study  of  the 
processes  of  history.  The  question  which 
arises  at  every  turn  in  our  studies  of  act- 
ual life  is,  What  shall  be  done  to  invest 
human  activity  with  moral  power  and  pur- 
pose ?  If  the  Christian  Church  is  what  we 
have  been  taught  to  believe  it  to  be,  what 
part  shall  it  have  in  the  new  civilization  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church. 

\"\/'HILE  the  church  is  an  important 
*  ^  factor  in  civil  society,  it  has  a  prin- 
ciple and  method  which  are  entirely  peculiar 
to  itself.  Its  aim  is  to  take  the  individual 
man  at  his  birth,  or  at  a  later  period,  and 
make  him  something  which  by  nature  he 
is  not.  It  exists  for  the  renewal  of  man  in 
his  spiritual  functions,  for  the  removal  of 
whatever  hinders  his  advance  into  purity 
and  holiness  of  life,  for  the  education  of 
his  spiritual  aspirations  and  faculties  so 
that  he  shall  direct  his  life  according  to 
ideas  and  principles  which  are  partly  the 
accumulated  wisdom  of  men  at  their  best, 
and  partly  the  truth  of  God  revealed  to 
men  through  the  prophets  of  old  and 
through  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Its  spirit- 
ual method   is  the  process  by  which  this 


g2        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

end  is  secured.  This  process  is  twofold. 
It  is  internal  and  relates  to  changes  in  the 
individual  which  are  purely  spiritual ;  it  is 
external  and  has  to  do  with  the  education 
of  the  soul  in  purity  and  righteousness 
and  usefulness  in  the  world. 

The  work  of  theology  has  been  to  for- 
mulate the  process  by  which  the  soul  is  re- 
newed, and  all  the  creeds  of  Christendom 
essentially  agree  as  to  the  direct  and  posi- 
tive method  by  which  this  end  is  reached. 
It  is  necessary  to  consider  what  the  nat- 
ural condition  of  man  is  before  it  can  be 
concluded  that  a  certain  remedial  agency 
shall  be  applied  to  him.  It  is  one  of  the 
indirect  results  of  tracing  the  law  of  de- 
velopment in  the  animal  world  that  the 
process  by  which  the  present  maturity  of 
man  has  been  reached  has  come  to  be 
considered  as  a  natural  process.  Man  is 
not  the  result  of  a  cataclysm,  but  the  out- 
growth of  conditions  which  reach  far  be- 
yond the  primitive  history  of  the  race  and 
have  to  do  with  the  mystery  of  the  origin 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church,     g^ 

of  life.  The  story  of  the  fall  of  man  as 
told  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  is  the  Hebrew 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  man  and  the 
change  that  came  over  our  first  parents. 
The  story  of  the  origin  of  man  and  the 
record  of  his  struggle  as  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  is  not  so  much  a  contradiction  of 
the  Hebrew  record  as  it  is  its  statement  in 
the  facts  of  nature.  The  fact  of  the  evil 
that  is  in  the  world  is  as  distinctly  revealed 
in  the  processes  of  development  as  m  the 
cosmogony  of  Genesis.  One  condition 
supersedes  another  in  the  natural  world,  and 
one  condition  supersedes  another  in  the 
spiritual  world.  The  names  are  different, 
but  the  essential  fact  is  the  same.  The 
church  has  given  the  preference  to  the 
Hebrew  story  of  the  degeneracy  of  man 
in  his  moral  life,  and  has  itself  been 
regarded  as  the  actual  process  of  the  re- 
demption of  mankind  from  a  fallen  con- 
dition ;  but  it  has  never  denied  that  its 
whole  process  was  of  a  positive  character, 
that  it  aimed  to  do  for  the  spiritual  nature 


94        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

of  man  what  Nature  has  aimed  to  do  for 
the  consummate  end  of  the  creation  of  the 
world,  —  the  building  up  of  that  nature  so 
that  its  higher  life  shall  correspond  to  the 
process  by  which  man  himself  is  believed 
to  have  sprung  into  his  present  existence 
from  a  humbler  and  less  complicated  or- 
ganism. In  the  one  case,  the  church  re- 
gards mankind  as  in  a  spiritual  degradation, 
from  which  its  work  is  to  raise  the  race ; 
in  the  other,  mankind  is  regarded  in  its 
totality  as  subject  to  the  developing  pro- 
cess always  at  work  in  human  history  and 
specially  realized  in  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  God  into  the  world.  The  individual 
man  may  be  approached  with  truth  and 
righteousness  from  either  point  of  view. 
He  is  a  sinner  to  be  redeemed  by  the  death 
of  Christ ;  or  he  is  a  child  of  God  by  nat- 
ural process,  who  is  to  be  educated  to  enter 
into  all  that  God  has  made  him  capable  of 
being  and  knowing.  In  fact,  he  is  both. 
There  is  no  need  of  changing  the  tradi- 
tional theology  in   order  to  accommodate 


The  Spiritvuil  Method  of  the  Church.     95 

it  the  better  to  the  stubborn  facts  of  scien- 
tific truth.  Each  is  to  have  fair  play  ;  each 
is  to  be  regarded  as  valid  in  its  own  sphere. 
Theology  uses  one  language ;  science  uses 
another ;  but  both  are  processes  ordained 
of  God  for  the  correction  and  upbuilding 
of  mankind.  The  essential  thing  is  that 
neither  shall  stray  away  from  the  plain 
facts  which  concern  the  spiritual  renewal 
of  life. 

The  church  takes  the  individual  man  in 
the  state  in  life  in  which  he  is,  and  pro- 
poses to  place  him  in  the  condition  of 
spiritual  existence  in  which  he  ought  to  be. 
The  church  is  the  Father's  home  in  this 
world  for  the  spiritual  education  of  man- 
kind. Our  Lord  described  its  functions 
when  he  said  of  it,  under  the  character  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  who  is  its  life-giving  power, 
that  the  **  Comforter,  when  he  is  come,  will 
convict  the  world  in  respect  of  sin,  and 
of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment  :  of  sin 
because  they  believe  not  on  me ;  of  right- 
eousness because  I  go  to  the  Father  and 


g6        The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

ye  behold  me  no  more  ;  of  judgment  be- 
cause the  prince  of  this  world  is  judged." 
Here  the  central  fact  in  the  spiritual  world 
is  the  fact  of  the  Incarnation  of  Christ, 
who  is  in  this  world  to  deal  as  God  with 
the  individual  soul ;  here  the  central  pur- 
pose is  the  reaching  of  personal  righteous- 
ness, as  the  result  of  this  Incarnation, 
through  the  spiritual  forces  which  are  left 
in  the  world  to  assist  this  process  ;  here  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  the  witness  through  per- 
sonal character  that  the  Christian  family  is 
not  identified  with  the  prince  of  this  world. 
The  promise  that  the  Christian  Church 
J  shall  be  the  collective  embodiment  of  the 
'truth  which  God  has  vouchsafed  for  the 
(moral  and  spiritual  control  of  mankind  has 
not  been  broken.  Whatever  Christianity 
may  be,  here  or  there,  it  is  as  a  whole  the 
supreme  agency  by  which  the  powers  of 
evil  are  overcome  and  mankind  are  placed 
in  the  way  of  the  renewal  of  spiritual  life. 
It  works  by  a  spiritual  process,  but  it  is  a 
spiritual  process  realized  in  civil  society. 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church,     gj 

The  Incarnation  of  Christ  is  the  fact 
on  which  the  church  rests,  and  it  is  by 
virtue  of  his  life  and  work,  and  death 
and  resurrection  and  ascension,  that  the 
church  has  become  the  authorized  repre- 
sentative of  Christ  to  mankind.  It  is 
charged  with  nothing  less  than  the  prac- 
tical regeneration  of  the  world.  This  re- 
generation, if  man  is  a  sinful  being,  with 
his  will  predisposed  to  sinful  incHnations, 
must  be  first  of  all  a  spiritual  renewal 
of  the  forces  of  life.  Man  has  always 
heard  the  voice  of  his  soul  crying  out  for 
God,  who  seemed  afar  off;  but  in  Jesus 
Christ  God  was  in  man  reconciling  man 
to  God  by  a  double  process  —  by  a  repre- 
sentative man  who  bore  in  his  own  body 
our  sins  upon  the  cross,  and  by  a  spiritual 
Person  who  illustrated  in  himself  the  re- 
newal of  the  human  soul  through  the 
presence  in  it  of  divine  power.  It  is 
difficult  to  express  this  communication  of 
life  and  power  through  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  soul  of   man,  because  it  is  a  spiritual 


g8        The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

process  acting  through  natural  channels. 
One  is  convinced  of  the  spiritual  reality 
only  as  he  has  himself  an  insight  into 
what  constitutes  a  spiritual  process.  There 
are  two  factors  in  the  relation  which  an 
individual  assumes  on  uniting  himself  to 
Jesus  Christ,  or  in  becoming  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  through  the  act 
of  baptism.  One  is  the  presence  of  God 
in  Christ,  promising  the  remission  of 
actual  sin,  the  guidance  into  truth,  and 
the  power  to  do  God's  will  and  keep  his 
commandm_ents,  which  presence  is  indi- 
cated in  the  words  and  acts  of  the  person 
who  is  baptizing ;  the  other  is  the  person 
coming  of  his  own  free  act  to  surrender 
his  life,  so  far  as  he  has  control  of  it, 
into  the  hands  of  God,  to  be  his  child 
forever,  and  asking  for  the  help  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  that  this  vow  of  obedience 
may  be  registered  in  heaven.  There  is 
no  spiritual  act  that  goes  so  thoroughly 
to  the  depths  of  the  human  consciousness 
and  searches  so  truly  the    hidden   things 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church.     99 

of  the  heart  as  the  coming  to  baptism  in 
one's  years  of  full  responsibility  and  sur- 
rendering the  whole  nature  to  the  rule 
of  the  spiritual  powers  which  Christ  has 
promised  as  the  strength  of  God  for  the 
renewed  soul.  The  things  of  this  world 
may  again  crowd  down  this  new  life  into 
a  small  part  of  one's  existence,  but  nothing 
can  ever  conceal  the  moral  grandeur  of 
the  surrender  of  the  soul  to  God  or  of  its 
renewal  through  the  contact  with  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  to  us  in  this  solemn  act 
individually  all  that  he  was  in  the  act  of 
his  Incarnation  to  the  whole  of  mankind. 
It  may  seem  that  the  baptism  of  a  little 
child  removes  this  consciousness  of  self- 
surrender  ;  but  the  smile  that  used  to  play 
on  the  lips  of  the  sainted  Keble  when  he 
took  the  children  of  his  parish  in  his  arms 
and  consecrated  them  to  Christ  to  be  his 
forever,  was  the  conscious  feeling  that 
they  were  placed  within  the  church,  where 
they  would  find  that  what  the  natural 
mother  was  in  the  family  the  church  would 


100      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

prove  to  be  as  a  spiritual  mother  in  their 
ethical  and  religious  education.  Ethical 
and  spiritual  guidance  and  protection  are 
here  provided  for.  The  time  for  self- 
surrender  has  not  come  ;  it  cannot  come 
till  years  of  discretion  are  reached  ;  but 
it  is  an  immense  gain  for  the  character 
that  one  has  been  given  to  Christ  in  his 
infancy  and  has  been  brought  up  through 
the  perils  of  youth  according  to  that  be- 
ginning. It  means  an  education  in  the 
world  but  not  according  to  its  spirit.  If 
there  is  any  reality  in  spiritual  things,  it 
further  means  that  spiritual  assistance  is 
given  to  the  youth  to  cooperate  with  the 
instructions  of  a  Christian  family  in  the 
formation  of  a  right  character. 

This  is  the  normal  way  of  proceeding ; 
it  is  the  method  by  which  human  society  is 
gradually  transformed  by  right  training  of 
the  individual  into  Christian  society.  It 
brings  the  fruits  of  the  Incarnation  of  Christ 
into  intimate  and  personal  contact  with  each 
individual  soul.     This  is  the  method  which 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church.     loi 

the  teachings  of  Christ  sanction  for  the 
regeneration  of  society,  for  the  reahzation 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men.  It 
is  the  practical  attempt  to  overcome  evil 
in  our  nature  by  the  operation  of  divine 
grace  from  the  beginning  of  life.  It  is 
the  control  of  our  nature  by  a  double  pro- 
cess which  never  ceases  until  our  work  in 
this  world  is  over.  It  is,  on  the  one  hand, 
an  extension  of  the  power  of  the  Incarna- 
tion into  our  daily  existence  ;  it  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  rallying  of  all  our  strictly 
human  and  natural  forces  to  cooperate  with 
the  Holy  Spirit  working  within  us.  The 
Eucharist,  which  is  the  outward  and  visible 
sign  of  the  inward  and  spiritual  presence 
of  Christ  in  the  soul,  is  the  realization  of 
the  Incarnation  through  material  forms, 
and  marks  our  faith  in  him  and  our  in- 
ward resting  upon  him.  It  is  one  of  the 
methods  of  spiritual  renewal  in  our  daily 
warfare  with  the  world.  It  is  the  visible 
act  by  which  Christians  also  acknowledge 
their  remembrance  of  what  he   has  done 


102      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

for  them.  It  is  through  the  Eucharist 
that  the  pledge  of  spiritual  renewal  in 
baptism  is  reaffirmed  by  ever  fresh  repent- 
ance of  sin  and  by  ever  renewed  devotion 
to  the  discharge  of  Christian  duty. 

From  this  point  of  view  it  is  seen  that 
the  method  of  the  church  with  reference 
to  the  individual  is  to  place  him  where 
he  is  the  recipient  of  divine  grace  within 
himself  and  the  subject  of  spiritual  en- 
vironment from  without.  The  Christian 
Church  is  a  world  within  the  world,  and 
is  yet  designed  to  enfold  the  world  in 
the  final  conquest  of  evil  within  itself. 
Its  results  are  not  equal  to  its  aims,  but 
it  is  ever  aiming  to  redeem  mankind  by 
a  spiritual  method  applied  to  universal 
human  life.  The  sacraments  mean  more 
or  less  to  individuals  as  they  read  more 
or  less  into  the  words  of  our  Lord  con- 
cerning their  institution;  but  taken  in 
their  universal  acceptance  among  Chris- 
tian people,  they  imply  the  communication 
of  divine  grace  to  the  soul  of  the  individual 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church.     loj 

and  the  pledge  of  the  one  who  receives 
them  to  a  consecrated  life.  This  is  the 
simplest  statement  possible  of  what  is  in- 
tended by  membership  in  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Spiritual  development  is  realized 
very  imperfectly  when  only  the  sacramental 
relation  is  acknowledged,  when  the  possi- 
bilities of  character  and  personal  useful- 
ness are  not  considered.  Grace  for  right 
action  comes  from  God,  but  power  realized 
in  action  is  the  fruit  of  the  will  subdued 
to  "the  obedience  of  Christ."  The  prin- 
ciple of  association  enters  largely  into  the 
application  of  the  spiritual  method  to 
actual  life.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  not 
a  company  of  anchorites  established  to 
perfect  their  own  souls  by  excluding  them- 
selves from  contact  with  their  fellow-men. 
It  is  a  social  environment  of  the  individual 
so  that  each  one  is  related  to  another 
and  is  strengthened  and  supported  by  his 
association  with  others.  It  is  also  more 
than  this.  It  is  the  development  of  char- 
acter and   purpose   and    usefulness    in  in- 


!04       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

dividuals,  so  that  they  not  only  see  life 
from  a  spiritual  point  of  view,  but  feel  its 
responsibilities  in  relations  to  others.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  does  not  exist  simply 
for  the  individual  perfection  of  its  mem- 
bers. It  is  a  spiritual  brotherhood  charged 
with  the  responsibility  of  the  regeneration 
of  human  society.  The  commission  of 
our  Lord  to  the  Apostles  was  to  go  into 
the  whole  world  and  make  the  fact  and 
the  power  of  the  Incarnation  known  to 
every  person.  His  parables  taught  what 
the  church  was  to  be  in  its  relations  with 
civil  society.  It  was  as  leaven,  as  the 
seed  growing  secretly,  as  the  mustard- 
seed  in  its  powers  of  expansion,  as  the 
shepherd  seeking  the  lost  sheep.  It  had 
a  mission  which  was  not  only  given  to  the 
Apostles  and  to  their  successors,  but  to  the 
royal  priesthood  of  the  laity  who  consti- 
tute the  household  of  faith.  The  mission 
was  the  conquest  of  the  world,  and  this 
was  not  more  to  win  men  to  the  following 
of   Christ  in  their  personal   obedience  to 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church.     lo^ 

his  teachings  than  in  the  consecration  of 
their  sanctified  intelligence  to  the  making 
of  society  Christian  in  its  atmosphere 
where  they  lived. 

It  is  here  that  the  spiritual  method  has 
been  most  imperfectly  expressed.  The 
weakness  of  human  nature  has  always  pre- 
vented the  realization  of  an  ideal  church, 
and  yet  it  is  in  the  contact  with  society 
that  the  conquests  of  Christianity  have  been 
made  in  the  past  and  are  to  be  made  in  the 
future.  It  is  the  realization  of  the  individ- 
ual that  he  is  endowed  with  influence  over 
his  fellows,  and  that  by  word  and  deed  he 
can  transmute  that  influence  into  changes 
in  their  character  and  in  their  personal 
motives,  which  is  the  final  development 
of  the  Christian  to  his  full  powers  of  activ- 
ity in  the  sphere  in  which  God  has  placed 
him.  It  is  the  carrying  of  divine  strength 
in  personal  character  which  has  had  most 
influence  upon  others ;  and  it  is  by  this 
method  of  contact  with  others,  who  see 
by  the  marks  in  one    of   their  fellow-men 


io6      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

that  he  has  been  with  Christ,  that  the 
spiritual  touch  is  conveyed  from  man  to 
man  in  the  open  field  of  the  world.  It  is 
well  to  regard  the  church  in  the  aggregate 
as  a  divine  institution,  but  its  human 
strength  comes  from  the  development  of 
Christian  power  in  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  its  members.  Its  action  upon  society, 
whether  in  the  home,  in  the  circle  of 
friends,  or  in  the  sphere  of  public  life,  is 
what  each  one  expresses  to  his  fellow  of 
the  divine  ideal  There  is  nothing  short 
of  personal  consecration  of  mind  and  heart 
daily  to  God,  and  the  living  with  strong 
leaning  upon  the  arm  of  divine  help,  to 
keep  one  in  the  full  realization  of  what  the 
Christian  life  is  in  its  essence,  and  to  en- 
able one  to  manifest  it  to  his  fellow-men. 
The  sacraments  are  the  outward  and  visi- 
ble pledge  of  the  secret  aid  that  one  needs, 
but  the  daily  sacrament  of  personal  com- 
munion with  God  in  the  chamber  of  the 
soul  is  not  to  be  neglected.  Here  one  is 
fed  as  with  bread  from  heaven,  according 


The  Spiritual  Method  of  the  Church,   loy 

to  his  need.  One  who  has  carried  spiritual 
method  to  this  point  in  his  inward  expe- 
rience may  not  live  a  perfect  life,  but  as 
often  as  he  falls  he  has  the  power  to  rise 
above  his  weakness  and  acknowledge  amid 
greater  efforts  after  holiness  his  need  of 
increased  help  from  God.  The  great  thing 
is  to  keep  the  mind  and  heart  intent  upon 
spiritual  development  through  the  right 
use  of  the  opportunities  of  life.  God  does 
not  expect  great  things  of  any  one. 

We  need  not  bid,  for  cloister'd  cell, 
Our  neighbor  and  our  work  farewell, 
Nor  strive  to  wind  ourselves  too  high 
For  sinful  man  beneath  the  sky : 

The  trivial  round,  the  common  task, 
Would  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask; 
Room  to  deny  ourselves ;  a  road 
To  bring  us  daily  nearer  God.^ 

The  saints  have  been  usually  those  who 
found    their  way  to    sainthood    along   the 

1  Keble's  hymn,  entitled  "Morning,"  in  The  Chi-istian 
Year. 


io8      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

path  of  daily  duty.  The  final  result  of 
spiritual  method,  so  far  as  one's  usefulness 
is  concerned,  is  to  affiliate  with  the  inter- 
ests of  ordinary  life  and  make  them  the 
environment  or  agencies  in  forming  one's 
Christian  character.  It  is  here  that  our 
personality  becomes  invested  with  the 
message  that  has  most  weight  with  our 
fellow-men.  There  is  a  call  to-day  for 
Christian  character  in  industrial  and  social 
life  which  can  hardly  ever  have  been  more 
imperative.  The  church  stands  to-day,  as 
it  did  in  the  primitive  days,  before  a  popu- 
lation which  feels  the  need  of  the  patience 
and  hopefulness  that  Christianity  imparts 
to  a  broken  industrial  and  social  situation, 
and  which  longs  to  see  the  vindication  of 
principles  that  spring  out  of  the  realiza- 
tion of  human  brotherhood  in  the  natural 
intercourse  of  life.  It  is  out  of  the  convic- 
tions which  men,  touched  with  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  carry  into  their  intercourse  with 
their  fellows  that  an  adjustment  of  indus- 
trial  troubles    is  to    be  reached  in  which 


The  Spiritml  Method  of  the  Church.     109 

justice  and  righteousness  are  the  ruling 
factors.  It  is  here  that  the  church  meets 
the  world  and  imparts  to  men,  through  the 
personal  convictions  of  its  members,  the 
principles  which  cause  peace  and  good 
will  to  take  the  place  of  strife  and  injus- 
tice. It  is  here  that  the  spiritual  method 
of  regenerated  society  begins  to  rule  the 
world. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Church  in  the  Family. 

/^^NE  of  the  distinctions  between  an- 
^-^  cient  and  modern  life  is  that  for- 
merly the  family  was  mainly  under  the 
control  of  the  state  and  the  church,  while  at 
the  present  day  the  family  is  removed  from 
the  direct  oversight  of  both  and  is  allowed 
to  develop  in  freedom.  The  day  of  absolu- 
tism in  church  and  state  has  passed  away. 
The  family  is  removed  from  their  restric- 
tions, and  yet  with  the  increase  of  its 
freedom  of  movement  it  has  not  better 
supported  the  other  interests  of  society. 
It  is  a  part  of  a  great  whole  in  which  the 
state  and  the  church  are,  like  itself,  rep- 
resentative institutions.  The  special  char- 
acteristic of  the  family  to-day  is  that  it  is 
an  organic  part  of  civil  life.  The  giving  of 
freedom  to  the  individual,  since  the  Refor- 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  1 1 1 

mation,  has  helped  to  restore  its  primitive 
character.  The  principle  of  English  law, 
that  a  man's  home  is  his  castle,  that  the 
father  is  the  head  of  the  household  and 
has  both  the  right  of  control  and  the  re- 
sponsibility for  action  in  his  own  family,  is 
everywhere  recognized  to-day.  The  state 
interferes  with  the  family  as  little  as  pos- 
sible ;  the  church  as  ^n  institution  respects 
the  independence  and  the  integrity  of  fam- 
ily life.  It  is  expected  that  the  household 
will  not  only  be  a  paternal  institution,  but 
will  prepare  its  younger  members  for  the 
duties  of  both  religious  and  civil  society. 
The  ideal  of  the  home  contains  both  the 
institutional  and  the  democratic  idea.  The 
home  to-day  in  its  w^holeness  is  the  unit  of 
society,  and  the  preservation  of  its  whole- 
ness of  operation,  of  its  demand  for  obedi- 
ence from  its  younger  members,  of  the  free- 
dom of  relation  between  its  several  units, 
of  its  security  and  its  openness,  is  perhaps 
even  more  essential  than  when  its  opera- 
tion was  confined   within   a  more  limited 


112       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

ransre  of  influence.  You  cannot  watch  the 
operation  of  one  family  upon  another,  as 
they  combine  to  make  society,  without 
feeling  the  larger  significance  of  the  fam- 
ily to-day  than  before  the  rise  of  modern 
life.  The  growth  of  civil  society  has  been 
the  enfranchisement  of  the  individual,  but 
the  excessive  demands  of  individual  lib- 
erty have  threatened  to  destroy  the  integ- 
rity of  the  family  relation.  The  history  of 
social  life,  since  the  Reformation,  has  been 
negatively  the  record  of  demands  upon  the 
rights  of  the  family.  The  natural  instincts 
which  have  preserved  it  as  an  institution 
have  alone  been  able  to  maintain  it  as  a 
social  unit.  In  a  free  government,  where 
the  democratic  idea  prevails  alike  in  church 
and  state,  the  family  has  felt  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  demand  for  personal  freedom. 
Not  only  have  men  and  women  in  the  mar- 
riage relation  stood  up  for  personal  rights 
against  the  concessions  of  the  marriage 
contract,  but  the  individual  head  of  the 
family  has  been   counted,  instead   of  the 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  1 1 ^ 

whole  family  itself,  as  the  social  unit.  We 
have  forgotten  what  our  laws  imply  in  our 
desire  to  make  the  most  of  the  individual 
man.  The  very  play  of  this  individual 
force  has  encouraged  divorce  and  has  stim- 
ulated independence  between  husband  and 
wife,  between  children  and  parents,  to  a 
degree  which  has  materially  assailed  the 
integrity  of  the  home.  While  it  has  been 
more  and  more  conceded  and  recognized 
that  the  family  is  the  fundamental  institu- 
tion of  society,  the  forces  leading  to  its 
desecration  have  to  a  great  extent  silently 
undermined  its  vitality.  The  constructive 
view  of  the  family  and  of  its  positive  con- 
tribution to  social  order  begins  at  last  to 
be  more  definitely  insisted  upon.  It  has 
been  felt  that  an  element  has  been  lost  out 
of  organic  social  life,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  family  to  the  place  which  it  once  held 
in  ancient  society,  and  which  it  largely 
lost  when  church  and  state  limited  its  ac- 
tion, has  perhaps  a  larger  place  in  present 
thought  than  at  any  time  since  the  modern 
period  in  history  began. 


J 14       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

In  European  countries,  where  marriage 
is  largely  controlled  by  tradition,  and 
where  freedom  of  choice  between  man 
and  woman  is  restricted,  the  family  has 
held  its  ancient  place,  and  its  integrity  has 
been  less  disturbed  than  in  a  democratic 
country  like  our  own.  In  a  free  commu- 
nity the  civil  aspect  of  marriage  has  the 
lead  of  its  religious  character.  Without  a 
national  marriage  law  it  has  been  possible 
to  undo  in  one  State  what  has  been  done 
in  another,  and  the  result  has  been  in  re- 
cent years  that  the  family  has  been  more 
corrupted  and  debased  than  perhaps  any 
other  institution  that  has  to  do  with  the 
vital  functions  of  society.  The  demoraliza- 
tion of  the  American  people  to-day  is  large- 
ly duq.  to  the  implication,  allowed  by  free- 
dom of  divorce,  that  a  marriage  is  to  be 
enforced  only  to  the  extent  of  the  wishes 
of  the  contracting  parties.  The  root  and 
germ  of  the  marriage  relation  is  a  contract 
for  life  entered  into  soberly,  advisedly,  dis- 
creetly, and  in  the  fear  of  God,  and   few 


The  Church  in  the  Family,  1 75 

and  far  between  must  be  the  reasons  that 
would  sanction  a  separation.  The  church 
has  been  truer  to  the  integrity  of  the  mar- 
riage contract  than  the  state  ;  and  yet  the 
state  has  quite  as  much  at  stake  as  the 
church  in  the  disintegration  of  the  family, 
and  in  the  breaking  up  of  society  which 
that  disintegration  implies.  The  care  of 
children,  the  division  of  property,  the  ties 
of  blood  which  are  thicker  than  water, 
are  imperiled  by  the  consent  of  father 
and  mother  to  live  apart,  and  even  the 
moral  character  of  persons  thus  separated 
is  enfeebled.  It  is  here  that  church  and 
state  have  been  robbed  in  recent  times, 
especially  in  our  own  country,  of  the  sup- 
port which  they  naturally  derive  from  the 
social,  educational,  and  moral  growths 
which  have  their  root  in  the  family. 

The  question  before  the  American  peo- 
ple is,  how  the  family  may  be  reinforced 
in  its  constructive  elements ;  and  its 
answer  lies  in  the  outreach  of  the  family 
alike  to  the  state  and  to  the  church.     It  is 


1 16       The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

best  to  consider  each  of  these  in  its  order, 
so  that  there  may  be  no  confusion  of  treat- 
ment. The  state,  at  this  time,  will  be 
considered  in  that  relation  to  the  family 
which  is  closest  to  the  relation  of  the 
church  to  the  same.  The  state  demands 
that  its  citizens,  composed  of  individuals 
either  in  families  or  in  a  position  of  organ- 
ized family  life,  shall  be  prepared  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  citizenship.  The  pub- 
lic-school system  represents  the  desire  of 
the  state  to  assume  that  fatherhood  of  the 
family  which  is  the  preparation  of  the  in- 
dividual man  for  civil  life.  Here  the  youth 
of  the  country  are  placed  "  where  any  per- 
son can  find  instruction  in  any  study."  ^ 
This  is  the  largest  statement  of  the  sphere 
of  public  instruction.  It  is  a  statement 
which  is  in  process  of  realization  on  a 
larger  scale  in  this  country  than  has  before 
been  attempted  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
The  free  public  school  is  the  necessary 
support   of   democratic    ideas.     What   the 

1  Ezra  Cornell's  outline  idea  of  Cornell  University. 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  iij 

state  assumes,  then,  in  public  instruction 
is  to  mediate  between  the  family  and  civil 
society,  and  to  prepare  the  members  of 
the  one  to  discharge  their  duties  in  re- 
lation to  the  other.  This  view  of  the 
public  school  is  inclusive,  and  it  is  the 
only  view  which  can  be  wholly  consistent 
in  a  country  like  our  own.  The  public 
school  cannot  be  narrowed  to  functions 
that  are  less  inclusive  than  all  that  goes 
to  make  a  good  citizen.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  heads  of  a  family  are  competent 
for  the  position  of  teachers  in  which  they 
stand  toward  their  children  ;  but  the  state, 
in  its  larger  view  of  parenthood,  recognizes 
the  duty  of  complementing  the  home  edu- 
cation with  the  wider  instruction  which 
fits  one  to  earn  his  own  living  and  to 
occupy  positions  of  trust  as  a  citizen. 
Our  American  political  system  grows  out 
of  the  free  life  of  the  American  town, 
and  the  American  town  is  the  result  of 
families  hving  in  freedom,  whose  children 
are  trained    in    the    common    schools.     If 


1 18      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

the  local  church  in  this  country  should 
ever  be  again  what  it  was  in  the  primitive 
days,  coextensive  with  the  political  com- 
munity, so  that  without  interfering  with 
one  another  the  state  and  the  church 
should  be  complementary  or  rather  co- 
inclusive  in  their  relation  to  human  life, 
the  ideal  product  of  citizenship  would  be 
reached  as  it  has  not  been  reached  else- 
where. We  have  the  elements  here  that 
lead  directly  to  the  highest-  organization  of 
human  society,  and  it  is  their  proper  reali- 
zation and  adjustment  that  may  be  called 
the  social  and  religious  problem  of  the  fu- 
ture. To  this  end  all  our  present  thought 
upon  society  and  religion  converges. 

The  school  question  in  this  country  is 
thus  fundamental  in  its  operation.  It  is 
so  vital  to  our  interests  that  it  is  difficult 
to  consider  it  dispassionately.  Our  re- 
ligious conceptions  lag  so  far  behind  our 
political  beliefs  that  comparatively  few 
citizens  are  willing  to  consider  the  school 
question  in    its   higher  and  moral,  if  not 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  1 19 

spiritual,  relations.  The  fear  that  the 
church  will  repeat  in  America  the  abso- 
lutism that  has  characterized  it  for  fifteen 
hundred  years,  is  our  bugbear.  The  de- 
termination that  religion  shall  be  taught 
in  a  sectarian  sense  is  largely  the  ruling 
thought  in  different  denominations.  The 
willingness  to  consider  this  question  with 
the  breadth  and  the  wisdom  that  regard 
society  as  a  whole  is  largely  wanting. 
The  spirit  of  -  each  denomination  is  to 
seek  its  own  advantage,  and  not  to  think 
and  act  for  the  whole  of  society.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  the  sum  total  of 
Christian  membership  in  this  country,  or 
perhaps  better,  the  sum  total  of  active 
Christians  among  us,  does  not  include 
more  than  perhaps  one  half  of  our  whole 
population,  and  that  the  families  and  the 
children  beyond  Christian  influence  are 
largely  dependent  upon  the  public  schools 
for  whatever  fills  out  the  defects  of  the 
home  and  builds  up  boys  and  girls  into 
well-instructed  men    and  women,   the  ne- 


120       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

cessity  of  moral,  if  not  spiritual,  agreement 
concerning  the  teachings  in  the  schools 
that  affect  character  is  seen  in  its  right 
light.  We  cannot  afford,  as  a  people,  in 
reaching  a  good  system  of  public  education, 
to  put  personal  preferences  in  place  of  what 
is  best  for  the  whole  of  society,  and  the 
danger  to-day  is  that  one  religious  body, 
seeking  its  own  advantage,  shall  withdraw 
its  moral  and  spiritual  strength  from  the 
support  of  methods  which  will  secure  the 
greatest  good  to  the  largest  number.  It 
is  the  seriousness  and  the  imperativeness 
of  the  outlook  upon  American  citizenship 
which  impel  every  honest  man  and  good 
citizen  to  disinterested  action  in  this  mat- 
ter. The  feeling  is  deep  and  strong  every- 
where that  the  instruction  given  in  the 
public  schools  should  be  reinforced  with 
the  moral  sanctions  which  are  insisted  upon 
in  common  life.  The  question  of  the  au- 
thority of  morals  is  partly  speculative. 
They  may  be  derived  from  the  will  of 
God,  as  expressed  in  what  is  supposed  to 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  121 

be  his  revelation  to  man,  but  they  are 
also  expressed  in  the  accumulations  of  hu- 
man experience  which  are  hardly  less  than 
the  will  of  God  written  out  in  the  univer- 
sal principles  of  human  conduct.  The  one 
may  be  called  the  divine  sanction  and 
the  other  the  natural  sanction,  but  prac- 
tically they  harmonize  and  are  one  in  their 
result.  We  accept  them  and  act  upon 
them,  and  the  sooner  our  practical  agree- 
ments upon  moral  instruction  which  has 
this  basis  are  allowed  or  enforced  in  the 
public  schools,  the  better  will  it  be  for  our 
youth  who  are  in  them.  To-day,  notwith- 
standing the  changes  in  methods  of  in- 
struction by  which  our  schools  are  brought 
into  contact  with  the  things  of  actual  life, 
there  is  no  feature  of  their  work  which 
can  be  more  strongly  indorsed  than  the 
moral  strength  which  men,  and  especially 
women,  devoted  to  teaching,  impart  by 
practical  methods  to  their  pupils.  The 
moral  and  religious  influence  which  is 
conveyed    almost     unconsciously    in    the 


122      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

natural  process  of  instruction  cannot  be 
over-estimated,  and  it  is  in  the  encourage- 
ment given  to  teachers  of  high  character, 
and  in  the  freedom  of  method  allowed  to 
them,  that  the  results  most  important  to 
the  family  and  to  American  citizenship 
are  to  be  reached.  When  this  vital  work- 
ing of  moral  and  spiritual  truth  has  free 
play  in  a  school-room,  where  every  boy 
and  girl  enjoys  the  constant  attrition  of 
life  with  life  and  of  race  with  race,  the 
lines  for  the  building  up  of  the  best  citizen- 
ship may  be  said  to  be  laid.  It  is  here 
that  public  education  grapples  with  the 
real  issues  of  American  life.  The  family 
is  complemented  by  the  primary  school 
which  enlarges  its  work.  The  primary 
school  leads  the  boy  or  the  girl  of  ripen- 
ing intelligence,  still  moving  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  home,  to  the  recognition  of  the 
meaning  of  life  outside  of  it.  The  gram- 
mar school  is  the  introduction  of  three- 
fourths  of  our  youth  to  practical  life,  and 
unless    the    principles    which    enter   into 


77?^  Church  in  the  Family.  12} 

the  construction  of  character  are  made  a 
part  of  the  preparation  for  taking  hold 
of  practical  things,  the  kindred  points  of 
heaven  and  home  are  not  established  in 
young  life,  and  something  is  wanting  in 
public  education  which  is  indispensable 
to  public  virtue.  The  demand  is  that  edu- 
cation shall  be  intellectual,  industrial,  and 
seasoned  with  character.  General  Wolse- 
ley  admits  that  the  man  who  brings  intel- 
ligence and  conscience  to  his  work  makes 
the  best  soldier  and  the  truest  patriot ;  and 
principles  which  lead  men  to  give  their 
best  to  defend  a  country  are  the  principles 
most  needed  in  fitting  them  to  live  in  it. 
In  this  outreach  from  the  family  and  the 
state  to  education  which  has  a  moral  basis, 
may  be  traced  the  development  of  the 
family  into  a  leading  factor  in  civil  society, 
and  it  is  in  keeping  the  state  true  to  its 
moral  duties,  without  enlisting  its  aid  in 
specific  religious  action,  that  public  edu- 
cation maintains  its  greatest  usefulness. 
There   is    no   reason  why  education   thus 


124      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

managed  should  not  meet  and  satisfy  the 
rightful  demands  of  religious  people.  For 
the  purpose  which  we  have  in  mind  as  a 
nation,  for  the  building  up  of  men  and 
women  who  shall  rise  to  the  full  demands 
that  can  be  laid  upon  them,  the  public 
education  that  is  true  to  the  teachings 
of  heaven  and  of  home  is  the  education 
which  every  American  citizen  requires. 
Departures  from  this  line  of  action  are 
departures  from  what  is  good  for  the 
whole  of  civil  society. 

What  may  the  church  do  to  develop 
and  renew  the  higher  life  of  the  family } 
The  church  approaches  the  family  in  two 
directions.  It  deals  with  its  head  and 
with  its  members  as  individuals,  and  it 
recognizes  the  institution  in  its  social 
unity.  If  the  parents  are  members  of  the 
Christian  Church  by  baptism,  they  repre- 
sent the  twofold  institutional  relationship. 
They  have  duties  as  individuals  in  the 
Christian  body,  and  they  stand  in  a  sacred 
and  self-respecting  relation  to  the  home  as 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  12^ 

an  independent  institution.  The  family 
in  its  fullness  means  children  and  chil- 
dren's children  to  the  third  and  fourth 
generation,  and  it  is  thus  that  it  becomes 
an  organic  contribution  to  society,  enter- 
ing into  affiliations  with  church  and  state 
and  supporting  both.  What  the  state  does 
for  its  political  life  the  church  does  for 
its  social  and  spiritual  life.  It  reaches 
out  to  the  family  as  a  corporate  unit,  and 
it  is  in  and  through  this  institution  that 
its  influence  is  most  succes.sfully  exerted 
and  its  best  work  done.  In  the  Christian 
family  children  are  baptized  into  the  life 
of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  are  thus  members  of  the  body 
of  Christ,  to  be  educated  according  to 
their  baptismal  vows.  Thus  far  the  Chris- 
tian family  and  the  Christian  Church  have 
a  unity  of  purpose,  and  the  one  finds  its 
sphere  in  the  other.  The  Christian  fami- 
lies brought  together  represent  the  body 
of  Christ  in  a  given  locality,  and  it  is 
their  united  action  upon  society  which  is 


126      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

called  the  Christian  movement  in  the  com- 
munity. They  are  the  light  of  the  world, 
examples  to  others,  illustrations  of  the 
higher  type  of  family  and  of  social  life. 
It  was  in  the  early  church,  as  it  is  in 
the  modern  church,  the  influence  of  these 
families,  working  out  Christian  principles, 
which  imparted  strength  to  civil  relation- 
ships. 

The  duties  of  the  church  as  a  teaching 
institution  to  Christian  families  are  not 
well  understood.  Every  pastor  seeks  first 
of  all  to  watch  over  the  members  of  his 
spiritual  household,  their  families  and  their 
little  ones.  But  the  difficulty  in  the  work- 
ing of  the  church  to-day  is  not  so  much 
in  the  care  of  the  members  of  its  own 
household,  as  in  its  lack  of  extensive  and 
intensive  influence  upon  the  large  portion 
of  society  which  is  beyond  its  immediate 
care,  and  which  is  to  be  reached  not  only 
through  the  individual,  but  largely  and 
organically  through  the  better  use  of  the 
family.     The  first  thought  among  Protes- 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  1 2y 

tant  people  has  been  the  work  upon  the 
individual.  Too  little  consideration  has 
been  given  to  the  place  of  the  family  in 
the  reconstruction  of  society.  Our  re- 
ligious bodies,  divided  by  imaginary  or 
real  differences,  have  emphasized  their 
differences  in  social  action.  They  have 
been  prevented,  by  following  out  the  sec- 
tarian idea,  from  working  as  they  might 
for  the  good  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 
They  have  believed  that  the  regeneration 
of  the  individual  man  would  be  sufficient, 
in  a  constructive  way,  for  the  good  of 
society.  The  stress  laid  upon  conversion 
has  been  greater  than  the  stress  laid  upon 
Christian  education  and  upon  a  large  view 
of  the  relation  of  the  family  to  practical 
life,  so  that  the  ideas  of  household  training 
have  been  too  little  inculcated,  at  least  in 
this  generation.  The  Sunday  schools  have 
led  to  the  ignoring  of  religious  instruction 
in  the  family,  and  the  Christian  family 
has  suffered  because  its  regular  functions 
have    fallen    into    disuse.      People    upon 


128      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

whom  moral  and  spiritual  responsibilities 
fall  lightly  have  insisted  that  their  chil- 
dren should  be  instructed  in  duties  which 
they  are  unwilling  to  perform  themselves, 
and  the  contradiction  between  the  influ- 
ence of  the  home  and  the  teaching  of  the 
Sunday  school  is  a  break  in  the  religious 
order  which  has  been  largely  fatal  to  the 
building  up  of  religious  character.  If  the 
efforts  of  the  Christian  ministry  had  been 
directed  in  the  last  generation  as  earnestly 
toward  the  Christian  development  of  the 
family  as  they  have  been  aimed  toward 
bringing  the  children  of  non-Christian  fam- 
ilies into  the  Christian  Church,  the  tone 
of  whole  American  communities  would  be 
different  from  what  it  is  to-day. 

To  a  very  great  extent  the  idea  of  the 
wholeness  of  the  family  has  dropped  out 
of  the  working  Christian  system.  It  is 
not  common  to  hear  Sunday  instruction 
about  the  family.  The  social  duty  and 
the  personal  duty  is  insisted  upon,  but 
the    place    of    the    family   in   the    social 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  1 2g 

order,  the  duty  of  parents  to  their 
children,  the  way  in  which  character  is 
transmitted  from  father  to  son  and  from 
mother  to  daughter,  the  insistence  upon 
the  sacredness  and  purity  of  family  life, 
are  ignored  alike  in  the  pulpit,  in  house- 
hold visitation,  and  in  the  literature  of  the 
day.  The  family  has  not  been  treated  as 
an  institution,  and  the  church  has  too 
often  ignored  its  functions  as  a  social  and 
spiritual  force  in  the  community.  It  has 
been  treated  as  a  concourse  of  individual 
units,  and  the  value  of  a  congregation  of 
families  for  breathing  a  spiritual  purpose 
into  the  whole  of  human  life  has  not  been 
appreciated.  The  reviving  of  the  church 
itself  as  an  institution,  and  the  consider- 
ation of  what  it  may  do  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  the  family  as  an  organic  factor 
in  society,  and  the  looking  at  individuals 
more  in  their  relation  to  institutional  work, 
will  put  a  new  face  upon  the  community. 
The  family  is  the  key  alike  to  society  and 
to  the   individual.     Unless   the   corporate 


Tj^o      The  Church  in  Modern  Society . 

ideas  of  life  are  reintroduced,  individuals 
are  in  relation  to  one  another  as  grains  of 
sand.  They  lack  coherence,  constructive 
influence,  and  associated  power. 

The  neglected  field  of  the  church  in  so- 
ciety is  in  its  failure  to  treat  people  out- 
side of  the  church  from  the  family  point 
of  view.  The  individual  conversion  is  not 
less  to  be  sought  for,  but  the  individual 
Christian  should  be  better  educated  to  dis- 
charge his  duties  as  a  member  of  society, 
and  especially  as  one  who  may  organize 
and  guide  society  through  the  family.  His 
higher  education  as  a  Christian  citizen,  as 
one  in  organic  relations  with  the  social 
order,  should  also  not  be  neglected.  It 
is  in  overlooking  this  kind  of  education 
that  the  teachers  in  our  churches  have 
cut  short  their  own  influence.  The  state 
values  the  citizen  in  proportion  to  his  con- 
tribution to  the  social  forces ;  the  church 
should  value  the  individual,  not  so  much 
as  counting  one  in  its  membership,  as  for 
his  power  to  organize  society  through  the 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  ijr 

family  upon  a  Christian  basis.  Every  man 
and  woman  represents  the  possibility  of 
organizing  society  through  the  family  and 
of  being  able  to  guide  and  direct  the  life 
of  the  next  generation.  The  higher  life  of 
the  community  depends  upon  the  educa- 
tion of  each  individual  in  the  organic  re- 
lation of  the  family  to  society  and  upon 
his  personal  influence  in  maintaining  it. 
We  have  so  far  drifted  away  from  this 
conception  of  the  church  in  its  relation  to 
the  family  life  outside  of  its  membership 
that  a  large  part  of  the  community  is  treat- 
ed, from  the  Christian  point  of  view,  at 
arm's  length.  The  word  is  not  spoken,  and 
the  influence  is  not  exerted,  where  it  does 
the  most  good.  Families  are  organized, 
their  younger  members  reach  maturity,  and 
new  families  are  organized  outside  of  the 
existing  churches,  where  for  two  or  three 
generations,  if  not  more,  hardly  any  influ- 
ences of  the  Christian  Church  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  family  idea.  The  moral 
and  spiritual  responsibility  of  the  parent 


/J2      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

for  the  children  is  not  recognized,  and  the 
teaching  which  the  church  should  bring 
to  the  household  does  not  exist.  What- 
ever, in  such  a  case,  may  be  done  for  an 
individual  member  of  the  family,  its  higher 
corporate  life  is  neither  aroused  nor  di- 
rected. You  may  go  through  community 
after  community,  through  hamlet  and  vil- 
lage and  town  and  city,  and  the  absence 
of  the  impact  of  the  church  in  its  organic 
strength  upon  families  is  so  characteristic 
as  to  be  almost  universal.  How  can  reli- 
gious societies  flourish  when  neglecting 
the  direction  of  an  institution  which  is  fun- 
damental to  their  existence  "i  How  can  the 
grip  of  the  Christian  minister  be  felt  in  a 
community,  when  he  does  not  seek  to  lead, 
through  the  family,  its  organic  life }  How 
can  the  young,  who  look  to  parents  for  the 
teaching  word  of  power  and  guidance,  be 
restrained  from  evil  influences  and  made 
to  respect  Christian  organization,  when 
the  clergy,  who  should  naturally  guide  life, 
do    not    work   through   the    family .?     The 


The  Church  in  the  Family.  i ^^ 

inefficiency  here  pointed  out  is  due  very 
largely  to  a  radical  defect  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  duty  of  the  church  itself. 
It  grows  out  of  the  undue  stress  that  is 
laid  upon  the  conversion  of  the  individual 
and  the  undue  disregard  of  the  construc- 
tive relation  in  which  the  church  stands 
to  the  family  and  to  the  community.  Until 
the  church  puts  its  strength  into  a  broader 
conception  of  its  legitimate  functions  in 
the  family,  until  it  takes  as  wide  a  view  of 
the  family  for  a  religious  purpose  as  the 
state  takes  of  it  for  a  political  purpose,  its 
influence  will  be  like  the  work  of  a  man 
with  one  hand,  with  the  other  unused,  or 
paralyzed,  at  his  side. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Church  among  the  People, 

A  NOTE  of  the  church  is  its  univer- 
•^^^  sality.  It  adjusts  itself  to  all  so- 
cial conditions,  and  every  one  has  standing 
room  within  its  limits.  It  is  as  compre- 
hensive in  its  scope  as  the  whole  of  man- 
kind, and  though  it  has  never  yet  ruled 
the  social  world,  there  is  nothing  in  its 
character  to  prevent  this  conquest.  The 
principles  upon  which  the  church  rests,  in 
its  relation  to  society,  are  the  principles 
which  our  Lord,  as  the  leader  of  humanity, 
laid  down  for  the  conduct  of  his  disciples. 
These  are  not  in  opposition  to  the  natural 
principles  which  have  grown  up  among 
men  in  the  form  of  mutual  concessions 
for  the  common  weal ;  they  recognize  all 
natural  rights  and  insist  upon  lifting  them 
up   to    the    ideal    excellence   of    universal 


The  Church  among  the  People.        7^5 

righteousness.  The  teachings  of  the 
Christian  Church  have  constructed  for 
mankind  a  social  order  which  is  as  yet 
imperfectly  realized  in  the  world,  but  is 
in  constant  process  of  becoming  universal. 
This  ideal  standard  of  order,  embodied  in 
the  church  as  a  living  principle,  has  been 
its  great  distinction  as  a  social  institution 
throughout  its  entire  history.  In  the 
earlier  Christian  ages  the  social  life  of 
the  people  was  controlled  by  the  church 
against  the  corruption  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  world;  at  a  later  time  the  same 
social  order  in  the  Middle  Ages  gave 
tone  and  character  to  civilization  ;  just 
before  the  Reformation  the  church  stood 
up  as  the  defender  of  the  individual 
against  the  nations  of  the  earth;  at  the 
Reformation  itself  the  Protestant  part  of 
the  church  allied  itself  with  political  in- 
stitutions in  order  that  the  rights  of  the 
individual  might  be  more  distinctly  main- 
tained in  free  society ;  and  even  in  the 
Roman   Church    of   those   days   the  great 


/  j6    The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

Christian  brotherhoods  and  sisterhoods 
retained  under  limitations  the  principles 
which  had  been  transmitted  from  the 
beginning  and  had  given  the  church  the 
power  to  control  the  social  world. 

The  Christian  Church  has  never  been 
without  influence  in  society ;  indeed,  here 
have  been  the  sources  of  its  power.  Its 
contact  with  society,  as  well  as  its  control 
of  it,  has  been  a  varying  element,  though 
it  is  here  that  its  human  strength  has 
been  concentrated.  But  since  the  Refor- 
mation there  has  been  a  separation  be- 
tween things  secular  and  things  sacred, 
so  that  the  church,  with  more  apparent 
freedom  than  before,  has  seemed  to  sep- 
arate itself  from  society  instead  of  con- 
trolling it,  and  to  reach  serenity  of  spirit 
at  the  expense  of  its  usefulness  as  a  social 
factor.  Dogma  has  been  exalted  above 
charity,  and  a  correct  belief  has  been 
more  insisted  on  than  a  saintly  life.  Civil 
society,  even  within  our  own  time,  has 
enlarged  its  sphere  ;  there  are  opportuni- 


The  Church  among  the  People.      i ^J 

ties  to  do  more  things  to-day  than  there 
were  yesterday,  and  human  affairs  are 
constantly  becoming  more  and  more  com- 
plex. In  the  meanwhile,  what  are  called 
the  American  churches  have  been  in- 
creasingly specialized  away  from  what 
is  the  central  function  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  is  to  make  this  institution 
coextensive  with  the  whole  of  human  life, 
and  comprehensive  enough  to  include  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  This  spe- 
cialization of  functions  is  the  glory  of  the 
undivided  church,  but  the  bane  of  a  sec- 
tion of  it.  The  difficulty  with  the  Amer- 
ican working  church  is  that  it  enlarges 
its  special  work  at  the  expense  of  its 
central  functions  ;  it  draws  the  blood  away 
from  the  heart  and  does  not  return  it 
there  to  receive  new  life.  The  constant 
criticism  of  our  American  Christianity 
is  that  in  its  special  forms  it  is  neither 
broad  nor  strong  enough  to  do  the  social 
work  which  it  undertakes.  Its  several 
branches  do  not  control  the  social  world 


I ^8      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

or  direct  social  action  as  the  undivided 
church  would.  They  have  neither  au- 
thority nor  influence  sufficient  for  this 
purpose.  What  the  Christian  Church  in 
the  United  States  lacks  more  than  any- 
thing else  is  the  ability  to  carry  weight 
into  life.  It  lacks  the  consciousness  of 
mission  ;  it  is  not  animated  by  an  over- 
mastering purpose ;  its  authority  is  not 
deferred  to  in  the  social  world ;  in  but 
few  instances  is  there  a  large  and  wise 
outreach  to  the  central  things  in  social 
life,  or  such  a  wise  shaping  of  the  in- 
fluences which  direct  the  lives  of  men 
that  the  collective  church  inspires  them 
with  a  consciousness  of  its  mission  and 
with  reverence  for  its  teachings,  if  not 
obedience  to  them.  The  Christian  Church 
among  the  people  of  America  lacks  pres- 
tige ;  it  needs  distinction,  emphasis,  the 
touch  of  divine  grace,  the  word  from  God. 
It  is  in  the  world,  but  not  of  the  world, 
while  its  mission  is  to  subdue  the  world 
to  itself. 


The  Church  among  the  People.       i ^9 

The  church  is  not  here  so  much  at 
fault  as  are  the  methods  by  which  the 
organizations  of  to-day  are  brought  into 
contact,  or  rather  kept  from  adequate 
contact,  with  social  life.  •  Light  is  thrown 
upon  this  point  by  the  contrast  between 
the  church  and  the  state  in  the  way  in 
which  they  influence  society.  The  state 
is  at  once  permissive  and  restrictive  in 
its  action.  It  allows  certain  things  to 
be  done,  and  it  forbids  others.  It  treats 
the  whole  body  politic  as  citizens.  No 
one  within  the  nation  can  escape  from  its 
control  or  break  its  laws  with  impunity. 
The  church,  if  it  were  coextensive  with 
the  nation  and  united  in  its  action,  would 
exert  the  same  influence  over  the  spiritual 
life  which  the  state  exerts  over  the  po- 
litical and  economic  life  of  the  people. 
What  the  state  insists  on  as  morals  the 
church  insists  upon  as  religion.  The 
drawback  is  that  the  church,  in  its  dis- 
united sections,  lacks  the  power  over 
society   which    is    exerted    by  the   state. 


140      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

There  is  no  system  of  temporal  rewards 
and  punishments  behind  it.  It  is  simply 
a  voluntary  agency.  Its  ban  of  excom- 
munication means  nothing.  It  comes 
into  society  as  ar  free,  inspiring,  and  uni- 
versal influence.  It  can  secure  only  a 
voluntary  obedience  to  its  principles  of 
right  and  wrong.  It  reaches  the  people 
mainly  on  their  emotional  and  moral  side, 
and  it  is  as  a  moral  agency  that  it  carries 
weight  into  social  life.  To  individuals  it 
offers  a  way  of  personal  salvation  ;  to 
society  it  offers  a  changed  environment. 
There  are  many  theories  of  social  rights, 
but  the  position  of  the  church  in  society 
does  not  square  with  any  theory  what- 
soever. It  is  broader  than  any  theory 
allows.  It  looks  upon  society  as  a  whole  ; 
it  refers  special  actions  to  the  central 
principles  set  forth  in  the  teachings  of 
Christ ;  and  it  is  also  entirely  non-parti- 
san in  its  action.  This  conception  of  the 
church  is  higher  and  broader  than  our 
common    experience    of   its    action  in  the 


The  Church  among  the  People.        141 

communities  with  which  we  are  acquainted, 
but  it  is  no  higher  or  broader  than  what 
is  required,  if  it  takes  its  place  as  an  in- 
stitution which  bears  directly  and  con- 
structively upon  the  whole  of  human  life. 
Where  it  has  this  large  significance  as  an 
institution,  its  influence  is  felt  at  once  in 
carrying  out  a  higher  principle  of  action. 
Here  it  may  take  the  side  of  the  rich ; 
there  it  is  on  the  side  of  the  poor ;  again 
it  may  mediate  between  the  two  and 
show  the  common  ground  that  belongs 
to  both  ;  at  another  time  its  task  is  to 
lead  the  whole  community  to  a  new  stand- 
ard of  life  ;  it  can  have  no  one  unvarying 
sense,  no  uniform  policy,  no  universal  rule 
of  action ;  it  must  conform  itself  every- 
where to  the  circumstances  which  modify 
the  action  of  a  universal  principle.  The 
position  of  justice  and  righteousness  here 
embodied  in  what  men  call  the  church 
gives  it  an  influence  over  the  people 
which  comes  home  to  the  aspirations  and 
longings  of  every  right-minded  man  ;  and 


142      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

it  is  as  an  institution  in  the  social  world 
that  its  claims  find  glad  recognition.  This 
or  that  local  section  may  imperfectly  show 
what  the  universal  church  would  do,  but 
when  we  regard  it  as  impersonating  the 
interests  of  human  society,  and  allow  it 
to  work  freely  for  the  protection  and 
growth  of  individual  rights,  its  authority 
and  influence  everywhere  command  re- 
spect. 

The  church  thus  active  in  society  be- 
comes naturally  the  representative  of 
moral  authority  in  social,  educational,  and 
industrial  questions.  Its  authority  is  not 
absolute,  but  it  represents  that  sense  of 
justice  and  rightness  which  is  latent  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  all  men.  Per- 
haps at  no  previous  time  has  there  been 
a  stronger  demand  for  the  insistence  upon 
the  ideal  order  which  the  church  would 
like  to  establish  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
community.  The  distinctive  feature  of 
our  own  time  is  that  every  political,  eco- 
nomic,   or    industrial    question    rises   dis- 


The  Church  among  the  People.       14} 

tinctly  and  inevitably  into  a  moral  ques- 
tion. No  man  lives  unto  himself  alone  ; 
no  movement  in  society  is  without  its 
bearing  upon  the  whole  of  human  thought 
and  action ;  no  questions  which  divide 
the  industrial  world  can  be  justly  and 
fairly  settled  without  carrying  men  in 
their  final  solution  up  to  the  plane  of 
Christian  principle ;  even  political  conten- 
tions, always  partisan  in  their  inception 
and  development,  rise  inevitably  into  great 
moral  issues  ;  and  the  relations  of  capital 
and  labor,  whenever  seriously  discussed, 
find  their  solution  in  the  overpowering 
moral  principles  which  soften  the  asperi- 
ties and  remove  the  misunderstandings 
between  the  two  factors.  In  the  days 
that  are  upon  us,  and  in  those  which  are 
to  come,  the  Christian  Church  occupies 
socially  a  unique  position.  The  oppor- 
tunity of  the  church  through  its  clergy 
and  through  the  living  up  to  its  principles 
is  to  tell  the  capitalist  not  less  than  the 
laboring  man   what  he  ought  to    do,   and 


144      77;^  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

to  bring  the  two  parties  to  see  the  situa- 
tion from  a  more  central  point  of  view. 
Without  committing  itself  to  either  party 
and  without  acting  as  umpire  between 
the  two,  it  has  been  possible,  wherever 
the  Christian  Church  has  been  in  healthy 
and  responsive  relations  to  the  community, 
to  work  successfully  for  the  settlement  of 
industrial  disputes.  It  is  here  that  the 
Christian  Church  represents  the  spiritual 
guidance  of  social  life ;  it  is  here  that  it 
recognizes  and  maintains  the  position  in 
the  community  where  the  assertion  of  its 
functions  gives  it  directing  power  among 
the  people.  Where  it  is  sold  out  to  a 
class,  where  a  parish  represents  people 
chiefly  of  one  kind,  where  local  prejudice 
is  allowed  to  give  color  to  a  congregation, 
this  influence  and  authority  are  not  mani- 
fested. The  severest  thing  that  can  be 
said  against  local  congregations  in  all 
parts  of  the  collective  American  church 
is  that  they  are  too  often  under  the  con- 
trol of  men   and  women  who  are  without 


The  Church  among  the  People,       14^ 

sympathy  with  those  who  are  engaged 
in  a  life  of  daily  toil.  This  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  church  ;  it  is  the  fault  of  the 
people  who  for  the  time  being  give  par- 
ticular parishes  their  local  tone  and  color. 
All  that  is  needed  in  any  of  these  cases 
is  to  secure  different  leadership  and  change 
the  spirit  of  a  particular  congregation. 

The  Christian  Church  gains  in  respect 
and  in  usefulness  in  proportion  as  it  be- 
comes to  society  at  large  what  it  is  per- 
sonally to  the  individual  in  the  direction 
of  his  inward  life.  It  reaches  society  by 
entering  into  it  and  organizing  its  working 
ideas.  This  is  accomplished,  not  by  de- 
nouncing its  errors  so  much  as  by  put- 
ting the  salt  of  a  new  life  into  its  springs 
of  power,  and  creating  everywhere  the 
conviction  that  the  church  is  on  the  help- 
ing side  of  every  man  who  tries  to  live 
up  to  the  best  that  is  in  him.  When  we 
treat  the  spiritual  method  of  the  church, 
we  confess  to  the  cooperation  of  the 
divine   will  with   the   human   will   in   the 


14^      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

making  of  a  new  man  in  Jesus  Christ ; 
when  we  treat  of  the  regeneration  of 
society  and  the  method  by  which  this  is 
accomplished,  it  is  understood  that  moral 
elements  not  less  than  spiritual  forces 
enter  into  the  environment  of  the  com- 
munity and  constitute  its  atmosphere,  so 
that  its  average  tone  is  raised  and  men 
feel  it  as  they  drink  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  air  on  a  June  morning.  It  makes 
little  difference  whether  one  form  of  eccle- 
siastical polity  or  another  is  followed  in 
bringing  the  church  into  contact  with  the 
people.  In  a  country  like  our  own  the 
polity  in  closest  harmony  with  democratic 
institutions  has  the  advantage,  while  that 
which  represents  the  principle  of  heredi- 
tary descent  or  spiritual  succession  is  often 
felt  to  be  out  of  touch  with  the  masses  ; 
but  what  one  polity  gains  in  the  sym- 
pathy of  a  common  method  is  supplied  by 
the  other  in  treating  the  whole  question 
of  religion  with  the  breadth  and  simplicity 
which  gather  up  and   sanctify  all  that  is 


The  Church  among  the  People.      14J 

best  in  life.  Both  are  alike  in  their  rec- 
ognition of  a  common  work  among  the 
people,  which  must  be  controlled  by  an 
abounding  love  for  the  souls  of  men,  and 
by  such  an  interest  in  their  personal  hap- 
piness in  this  world  that  every  possible 
effort  is  put  forth  to  make  it  suitable  for 
them  to  Hve  in.  In  practical  experience, 
both  the  monarchical  and  the  democratic 
church  succeed  because  each  recognizes 
in  its  own  way  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
people  and  meets  them  with  the  wisdom 
and  sympathy  that  Christ  has  taught  them 
to  use.  There  are  advantages  in  each  form 
of  polity  ;  and  were  the  advantages  of  each 
one  used  to  make  up  the  deficiencies  in 
the  other,  the  power  and  efficiency  of  the 
working  church  in  modern  life  would  be 
immensely  increased. 

Wherever  the  masses  do  not  attend 
church,  the  question  is  whether  the  church 
itself  is  in  a  condition  to  invite  them  or 
to  take  care  of  them  if  they  came.  Our 
Lord  said :    ''If    I    be    lifted  up  from  the 


148      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

earth  I  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  This 
promise  is  always  realized  when  the  in- 
finite beauty  and  attraction  of  his  life  and 
death,  and  the  inspiring  power  which  he 
imparts  to  our  own  lives,  are  fairly  and 
truly  presented  to  mankind.  The  question 
of  most  importance  to-day  is  not  whether 
the  people  are  in  this  or  that  religious 
body,  but  whether  our  churches,  individu- 
ally or  collectively,  are  so  thoroughly  con- 
trolled by  the  spirit  of  the  Master  that 
the  people  who  are  hungering  and  thirst- 
ing for  the  bread  of  life  can  be  truly  fed 
by  resorting  to  them.  Until  a  great  re- 
form has  been  wrought  in  the  present 
relations  of  the  church  to  society,  until 
the  thought  of  Christian  leaders  has  been 
greatly  widened  and  their  methods  admit 
of  greater  diversity  in  practical  work,  until 
the  largeness  and  freedom  of  the  whole 
church  are  applied  to  the  administration 
of  special  sections  of  it,  the  people  them- 
selves will  not  find  in  the  sections  that 
specially  appeal  to  them  the  divine  teach- 


The  Church  among  the  People.       149 

ing  which  calls  them  instinctively  to  the 
Master's  service.  The  bringing  of  the 
people  to  the  church  is  very  largely  ac- 
complished when  the  church  is  prepared 
to  receive  them,  when  its  doors  are  opened, 
when  it  reaches  out  the  helping  hand, 
when  it  asks  people  low  down  in  life  to 
come  up  higher,  when  it  stands  in  the 
community  for  making  more  of  people 
than  they  were  before.  The  reaching  of 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  is  largely 
a  question  of  method,  of  adaptation,  and 
of  sympathy.  In  one  respect  the  method 
of  the  Protestant  churches  has  improved. 
The  damnatory  motives  once  insisted  upon 
in  order  to  lead  people  to  righteousness 
of  life  are  now  seldom  urged.  The  Chris- 
tian method,  the  positive  method,  the 
method  that  increases  the  meaning  of  life, 
the  method  that  strengthens  the  will  to 
live  rightly,  begins  to  be  employed,  where 
Christians  are  thoroughly  in  earnest,  with 
wonderful  efficiency  and  power.  The 
church   itself,    when    truly  understood,   is 


I  ^o      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

as  broad  in  its  spirit  as  the  social  life 
of  the  whole  community,  and  its  methods 
of  dealing  with  individuals  should  be  as 
flexible  as  the  differences  of  temperament 
demand.  A  great  result  has  been  accom- 
plished when  the  impression  has  been 
created  in  a  neighborhood  that  the  reli- 
gious organization  which  appeals  to  the 
people  is  in  helpful  sympathy  with  their 
needs  and  conditions.  When  men  and 
women  feel  that  it  covers  the  whole  of 
their  life  and  treats  it  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  it  a  new  life,  so  that  they  are 
inspired  by  a  broader,  freer,  truer  spirit 
in  their  homes,  among  their  friends,  and 
in  their  social  experiences,  the  life  of 
Christ  has  been  renewed  in  them.  The 
aim  of  the  Christian  Church  should  be 
not  only  to  renew  and  spiritualize  indi- 
vidual and  family  life,  but  to  make  the 
whole  of  society  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
reflection  of  this  sort  of  life.  It  is  by 
such  a  method  that  Christianity  makes 
the  life  of  men  larger,  leads  them  into  a 


The  Church  among  the  People.        i^i 

riper  Christian  experience,  unites  one  class 
with  another  by  the  extension  of  a  kindly 
spirit  among  them  until  each  one's  life 
becomes  more  interesting  to  himself  and 
more  attractive  to  others,  and  persons  who 
have  had  slight  opportunity  to  make  much 
of  themselves  find  that  their  whole  contact 
with  the  world  is  purer,  fresher,  and  better 
than  it  was  before.  Where  these  condi- 
tions are  established,  the  community  not 
less  than  the  family  and  the  individual  is 
inspired  with  a  new  purpose,  and  Christi- 
anity becomes  lovely  in  the  eyes  of  all  men. 
Into  details  of  method  in  reaching  the 
people  it  is  perhaps  not  best  to  go.  The 
points  of  successful  Christian  work  may 
be  considered  under  the  heads  of  worship, 
sympathy,  opportunity,  and  reality ;  but  in 
each  locality  or  community  the  treatment 
is  so  special,  even  under  these  suggestions, 
that  it  could  not  be  successfully  treated 
without  making  a  treatise  on  pastoral  the- 
ology. The  work  of  the  Christian  leader 
to-day  is  very  largely  in    the   removal   of 


I ^2      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

misunderstanding  as  to  the  social  position 
of  all  the  churches.  The  line  of  separa- 
tion which  has  been  allowed  in  this  coun- 
try to  mark  off  church-members  from  their 
friends  in  the  world  needs  to  be  taken 
out  of  social  life  ;  the  patronage  which 
ministers  and  people  often  extend  toward 
those  who  are  lower  down  in  life  needs 
to  be  replaced  by  the  appeal  to  what  is 
best  in  all  men ;  the  church  ought  to  be 
presented  not  so  much  as  passing  judg- 
ment upon  men's  sins  as  offering  a  method 
by  which  they  may  escape  from  them  and 
rise  above  them  ;  and  Dr.  Arnold's  prin- 
ciple in  governing  Rugby  School,  which 
was  to  accept  every  boy  on  his  best  side 
and  for  the  best  that  was  in  him,  should 
be  the  rule  rigidly  adhered  to  by  all  who 
hold  commissions  for  helping  and  keep- 
ing the  souls  of  their  fellow-men.  The 
spiritual  lines  which  seem  to  divide  people 
into  sheep  and  goats  are  not  so  distinct 
when  we  go  down  into  the  realities  of  life 
as  they  seem  to  be  when  they  are   laid 


The  Church  among  the  People,         75^ 

down  by  religious  doctrinaires  ;  and  when 
Christian  leaders  or  teachers  go  forth 
among  men  to  arouse  in  them  an  attrac- 
tion for  the  Hfe  which  they  are  capable 
of  leading,  they  are  not  often  allowed  to 
return  from  their  seed -sowing  without 
bringing  the  sheaves  of  the  harvest  with 
them. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Church  in  the  Nation, 

'TPHE  nation  organizes  the  life  of  man 
^  for  civil  authority.  It  is  *'  the  sphere 
of  a  realized  freedom,  in  which  alone  the 
life  of  man  fulfills  itself,  and  it  is  to  give 
expression  to  all  that  is  compassed  in  life. 
It  moves  toward  the  development  of  a 
perfect  humanity.  Its  symbol  is  the  city 
of  an  hundred  gates,  through  which  there 
passes  not  only  the  course  of  industry  and 
trade,  but  the  forms  of  poets  and  prophets 
and  soldiers  and  sailors  and  scholars  — 
man  and  woman  and  child  in  the  unbroken 
procession  of  the  people.  Its  warrior 
bears  the  shield  of  Achilles,  on  which 
there  are  not  only  the  figures  of  the  mart 
and  sea  and  field,  the  loom  and  ship  and 
plow,    but   the   houses    and    the   temples 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  755 

and  the  shrines  and  the  altars  of  men, 
the  types  of  the  thought  and  endeavor 
and  conflict  and  hope  of  humanity.  The 
condition  of  the  being  of  the  nation,  as 
the  power  and  the  minister  of  God  in 
history,  is  in  its  moral  personality ;  in 
this  it  is  constituted  in  history  as  the 
moral  order  of  the  world,  and  for  the 
fulfillment  of  that  order.  The  assertion 
of  the  moral  being  of  the  nation  has  been 
the  foundation  of  that  which  is  enduring 
in  politics,  and  has  been  embodied  in  the 
political  thought  and  will  which  alone 
have  been  constructive  in  the  state."  ^ 
The  state  is  to  secure  justice,  maintain 
order,  establish  freedom  for  the  individual, 
furnish  scope  for  social  ends,  render  pos- 
sible more  and  more  the  rule  of  the  people 
by  the  people,  which  means  government 
by  mutual  consent,  and  thus  represents 
the  nation  as  the  realization  of  the  moral 
idea  in  the  life  of  self-conscious  freedom, 
which    is  the  order   of    the    moral  world ; 

1   The  Nation,  by  Elisha  Mulford,  LL.D.,  pp.  21,  22. 


1^6       The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

and  this  is  the.  working  out  of  the  full 
idea  of  Hegel,  who  says  :  ''  There  is  one 
conception  in  religion  and  the  state, 
and  that  is  the  highest  of  man."^  This 
comprehensive  outline  of  the  province  of 
the  nation  in  the  control  of  civil  society 
has  its  complement  in  the  way  in  which 
the  church  organizes  the  whole  commu- 
nity as  a  people  of  God  who  are  to  be 
treated  and  cared  for  not  only  as  members 
of  a  moral  commonwealth  in  which  they 
are  to  be  trained  for  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship, but  as  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Thus  the  twofold  relationship  of 
the  church  to  society,  its  part  in  building 
up  the  state  in  the  moral  forces  which 
maintain  a  high  order  of  citizenship,  and 
its  part  in  establishing  the  spiritual  re- 
public of  God  on  earth,  has  always  been 
maintained  ;  but  too  often  it  has  been 
realized  by  the  domination  of  the  church 
over  the  state  or  the  state  over  the 
church.      The    papal   theory  which    ruled 

1  Hegel's  Philosophie  der  Religion^  vol.  i.  p.  170. 


The  Church  in  the  Nation,  757 

the  Middle  Ages  and  was  maintained  un- 
improved down  to  the  Reformation,  was 
the  supremacy  of  the  church  over  the 
state.  The  same  theory  was  the  Puritan 
ideal,  as  partially  carried  out  during  the 
period  of  the  English  commonwealth,  and 
more  fully  established  in  Puritan  New 
England.  Neither  in  papal  countries  nor 
in  Puritan  New  England  has  it  been  pos- 
sible to  realize  this  theory  in  modern  so- 
ciety ;  it  did  not  give  to  the  individual 
sufficient  freedom  either  as  a  citizen  of 
the  state  or  as  a  member  of  the  house- 
hold of  God.  The  English  ideal  of  the 
church  as  coextensive  with  the  nation,  as 
bound  up  with  it  so  that  the  one  should 
not  act  without  the  consent  of  the  other, 
is  entirely  consistent  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  church  and  state  in  modern 
life.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  when  civil  so- 
ciety had  only  begun  to  enter  upon  its 
present  development,  the  English  Church, 
which  looked  after  the  life  of  the  whole 
English  people,  filled  a  place  in  their  in- 


1^8       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

stitutional  history  and  maintained  a  spirit- 
ual freedom  for  the  individual  which  was 
the  counterpart  of  his  moral  freedom  as 
an  English  citizen.  The  religious  institu- 
tions of  the  country  were  rightly  coordi- 
nate with  its  political  institutions.  The 
point  in  which  their  relation  differed  then 
from  what  it  is  growing  to  be  and  has  be- 
come to-day  in  a  country  like  our  own,  is 
that  a  legal  connection  was  then  main- 
tained which  has  now  been  diminished  into 
a  relation  of  mutual  consent  or  friendly 
understanding.  In  the  different  European 
states  where  the  Roman  Catholic  is  the 
controlling  religion,  the  same  tendency  to 
the  mutual  release  of  church  and  state 
from  obligations  to  each  other  is  to  be 
noted.  Church  and  state  must  always  be 
two  leading  and  controlling  factors  in  hu- 
man society,  and  it  is  in  their  working 
in  mutual  freedom  that  the  highest  aim 
of  each  is  to  be  attained  in  modern  life. 

We  have  reached  to-day  in  the  United 
States    that   free    development  of   church 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  i^g 

and  state  where  each  is  separated  from 
the  other  in  a  practically  uniform  relation, 
where  each  is  in  non-legal  but  constant 
intercourse  with  the  other,  where  the  state 
deals  only  with  the  temporal  and  the 
church  with  the  eternal  issues.  Both  have 
to  do  with  society  as  a  whole  ;  both  confer 
with  men  as  individuals.  This  does  not 
mean  the  establishment  of  an  imperiiini 
in  imperio ;  it  is  simply  that  the  spheres 
of  the  two  jurisdictions  are  independent, 
though  often  inclusive.  The  state  is  free  ; 
the  church  is  free ;  and  it  is  understood 
that  there  are  to  be  no  antagonisms  be- 
tween them.  The  people  in  this  country 
would  not  tolerate  a  closer  relation.  What 
the  state  does  for  political  society  the 
church  does  for  religious  society.  It  is 
in  the  largest  possible  definition  of  the 
national  position  of  the  collective  church 
toward  the  spiritual  consciousness  of  the 
people  that  the  point  of  view  is  reached 
where  the  work  of  the  church  is  seen  in 
a  right  light  as    a    spiritual  factor  in    the 


i6o      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

nation.  It  has  the  moral  consciousness  of 
the  nation  in  its  keeping.  The  country 
cannot  go  wrong  upon  great  moral  issues 
without  a  protest  from  the  collective 
church.  It  cannot  fulfill  its  charge,  its 
duty  to  the  individual,  without  arousing 
that  enthusiasm  for  the  welfare  of  the 
community  which  is  the  secret  and  invisi- 
ble impulse  in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
church  is  the  realization,  in  its  continuous 
life,  of  the  religious  belief  of  the  Positivist, 
that  all  the  accretions  of  wisdom  which  go 
to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  human  govern- 
ment are  handed  over  in  succession  to  each 
generation,  thus  increasing  the  advantages 
of  life  in  the  future.  It  emphasizes  in 
freedom  the  spiritual  consciousness  of  the 
individual  and  educates  it  as  the  personal 
conscience.  The  nation  is  also  a  moral 
personality.  Dr.  Mulford  says:  "The 
condition  of  the  realization  of  personality 
is  the  same  in  the  nation  as  in  the  in- 
dividual. This  condition  in  each  is  the 
clearness  and  fullness  in  which  it  compre- 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  i6i 

hends  its  purpose  and  is  centred  in  it. 
The  source  of  strength  is,  as  in  the  indi- 
vidual, in  working  faithfully  after  the  type 
of  its  own  individuality  and  in  bringing 
this  to  its  free  and  clear  development.  .  .  . 
The  nation  as  a  moral  person  is  in  itself 
called  as  a  power  in  the  coming  of  that 
kingdom  in  which  there  is  the  moral  gov- 
ernment of  the  world  and  in  whose  con- 
ception there  is  the  goal  of  history."  ^  The 
nation,  like  the  individual,  finds  its  dev^el- 
opment  in  an  integral  moral  life.  The 
church  advances  />a7^i  passti  on  this  same 
line,  but  after  a  spiritual  method  in  its 
dealing  with  the  whole  of  human  society. 
It  is  only  as  we  see  the  collective  church 
from  this  point  of  view  that  the  greatness, 
the  dignity,  the  responsibility,  and  the 
moral  grandeur  of  its  functions  are  made 
to  appear. 

It  detracts  from  the  estimate  of  what 
may  be  called  a  national  church  that  its 
divisions,  in  this  country  at  least,  are  so 

1   The  Nation,  p.  19. 


1 62      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

numerous  that  it  not  only  presents  no 
collective  front,  no  well-adjusted  order  of 
procedure,  but  is  to  a  great  extent  a  mass 
of  discordant  factions  warring  with  one 
another  over  distinctions  which  are  be- 
neath its  notice  and  impair  its  efficiency 
as  a  republic  of  God.  Regarded  from  this 
point  of  view,  the  fragments  of  organi- 
zations that  call  themselves  churches  do 
not  unite  people  and  do  not  build  up 
in  them  the  conception  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  nation  which  is  here  set 
forth.  The  disintegration  of  Christian 
society  through  its  divisions  has  previously 
been  discussed.  The  larger  portion  of 
Christian  people  sincerely  lament  these 
separations  and  note  in  them  a  constant 
waste  of  spiritual  power  and  strength. 
The  country  is  overrun  with  spiritual  en- 
thusiasts and  with  religious  rivalries  which 
make  sober  people  sick  unto  death  of 
even  the  name  of  religion,  and  amid  this 
confusion  they  look  almost  in  vain  for  its 
reality.     Needless  as  these  divisions  seem 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  i6^ 

to  be,  the  time  has  come  when  conserva- 
tive people  are  intolerant  of  them.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  come-outers  in  this 
country  from  the  established  and  respon- 
sible organizations  have  not  only  never 
organized  anything  to  take  their  place, 
but  have  dissipated  their  spiritual  strength 
in  social  reforms  which,  after  the  best  is 
said  of  them,  are  secondary  to  the  power 
for  reform  and  renewal  which  the  collec- 
tive church  attains.  It  is  further  to  be 
noticed  that,  great  as  is  the  tendency  to 
individualism  in  religion  to-day,  the  only 
forms  of  the  Christian  Church  among  us 
maintaining  not  only  the  right  of  way 
but  a  strong  and  steady  increase  are 
those  which  are  identified  as  the  histori- 
cal churches.  The  great  race  instinct 
among  the  American  people  may  be 
abused  by  the  licentiousness  and  prodi- 
gality of  its  individual  manifestations,  but 
it  is  too  stronsf  in  its  conservative  move- 
ment,  and  its  roots  are  too  deep  in  the 
life   of   society,  to  trifle  always  with  the 


/  64      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

constructive  spiritual  life  of  the  nation. 
Though  much  in  our  modern  Protestan- 
tism prevents  civil  society  from  being  con- 
trolled by  the  large  principles  that  take 
in  the  general  order  of  things  and  v^ork 
for  it  as  a  unit,  there  is  a  recognition 
everywhere,  too  often  imperfect,  often 
enunciated  by  a  minority,  perhaps  more 
often  heard  outside  the  churches  than 
within  them,  voiced  by  religious  leaders 
here  and  there  rather  than  by  the  officers 
of  the  church  organization,  but  on  the 
whole  the  audible  expression  of  a  con- 
viction which  more  and  more  carries 
weight  into  life,  —  that  the  religion  which 
is  worth  anything  in  this  country  is  a 
religion  which  aims  at  the  unity  of  life 
and  deals  with  the  whole  of  civil  society. 
Nothing  short  of  this  is  satisfactory.  Dis- 
appointing as  things  seem  on  the  surface, 
whether  in  the  country  town  with  its 
church-bells  clanging  for  discordant  creeds, 
or  in  the  city  with  its  confused  religious 
dialects,  — if  the  whole  aim  which  is  im- 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  i6^ 

plied  in  this  discordant  work  is  taken  into 
account,  —  the  substantial  unity  of  things 
may  be  recognized,  and  the  fragmentari- 
ness  of  our  Christian  aim  may  rightly  be 
regarded  as  a  temporary  and  transient 
phase.  In  the  better  ordering  of  Christian 
society  the  church  must  again  reassert 
and  maintain  the  principles  of  unity  and 
order  which  have  been,  humanly  speaking, 
the  secret  of  its  strength,  side  by  side 
with  the  nation,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  system. 

What  does  the  collective  church  do  for 
the  state  ?  It  brings  the  law  of  God  to 
bear  upon  society.  The  aim  of  the  state 
finds  its  end  in  itself  ;  it  seeks  to  improve 
a  certain  order  and  hand  it  down  to  pos- 
terity. The  church's  aim  and  end  is  the 
restoration  of  man  to  God ;  it  is  a  con- 
structive purpose ;  it  does  something  that 
legislation  cannot  do  and  does  not  attempt 
to  do.  It  imparts  a  higher  principle  to 
our  present  organic  life.  Illustrations  of 
what   the   collective   church    does  beyond 


1 66      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

what  the  state  does  are  found  in  the  rela- 
tion of  each  to  the  temperance  and  the 
prison  reforms.  The  state  punishes  the 
criminal  and  the  drunkard  for  their  overt 
acts  against  its  laws  ;  the  church  under- 
takes a  higher  and  more  radical  work ; 
it  would  reform  both  the  drunkard  and  the 
criminal  by  increasing  their  self-defense 
against  temptations,  and  would  plant  the 
principle  of  temperance  not  only  in  the 
individual  mind  and  heart  but  in  the  con- 
sent of  society  to  diminish  if  not  entirely 
remove  the  temptation  itself.  The  state 
punishes,  but  the  church  undertakes  to 
reform  and  renew  life.  It  helps  to  repress 
the  natural  evil  in  man,  and  to  this  end 
it  exerts  authority  from  man  to  man  over 
the  public  conscience.  It  speaks  to  the 
school,  the  municipality,  the  legislature, 
the  congress,  and  when  it  is  fairly  repre- 
sentative in  its  voice  it  expresses  the 
moral  consciousness  of  the  people,  the 
bonds  of  righteousness  and  duty  toward 
God    and    man,     Taken    as   a   whole,    the 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  1 67 

church  in  this  attitude  represents  a  certain 
authority.  Its  voice  is  Hke  that  of  the 
watchman  telling  of  the  night  in  the  pro- 
phecy of  Isaiah.  This  watchfulness,  in  its 
collective  capacity,  extends  over  society 
like  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a 
weary  land.  It  represses  evil ;  it  stimulates 
righteousness  ;  it  enforces  principles ;  it 
carries  its  enthusiasm  into  the  community ; 
it  inspires  men  with  the  purpose  of  leader- 
ship, and  makes  their  voices  heard  in 
clarion  notes  throughout  the  world.  Wher- 
ever the  church  in  its  collective  capacity 
is  strong,  wherever  it  speaks  with  un- 
diminished emphasis  for  principles,  wher- 
ever it  is  heard  and  felt  in  civil  society 
in  a  way  that  commands  obedience,  it  not 
only  asserts  its  power  upon  the  whole  com- 
munity and  gives  tone  to  its  life,  but  there 
is  a  retroactive  influence  which  is  felt 
within  itself,  and  the  high  pitch  of  its 
moral  reach  becomes  a  new  incentive  to 
its  own  vitality.  The  church,  at  any  given 
day  or  in  any  given  generation,    exhibits 


1 68      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

departures  from  this  position  of  authority. 
It  is  in  the  world  and  yet  not  of  the 
world ;  its  principle  is  that  of  St.  Paul, 
that  the  right  thing  is  to  use  this  world 
as  not  abusing  it.  The  highest  function 
of  the  church  is  to  create  the  purpose  in 
religious  society  of  using  the  things  of  this 
world  according  to  the  best  plans,  and  it 
is  in  proportion  as  this  aim  is  reached 
that  the  church  as  a  moral  organization 
has  leverage  in  the  community.  Here 
is  its  great  conservative  influence.  It 
holds  back  from  wrong ;  it  maintains 
moral  principles ;  it  is  the  living  teacher 
of  righteousness  ;  it  is  always  conserva- 
tive ;  its  organization  is  to  hold  fast  the 
right  things ;  it  conserves  existing  good ; 
it  represents  the  power  behind  the  social 
order  which  expresses  the  law  of  God. 
But  this  is  not  the  only  function  that  the 
church  discharges  in  the  community.  It 
is  in  its  organization  a  definite  ministry  to 
civil  society.  As  an  army  has  its  fore- 
runners  to   indicate   the   direction   of   its 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  169 

movement  and  to  pioneer  the  way,  so  the 
church,  in  its  spiritual  leaders  who  see 
truth  singly  and  in  advance  of  others,  has 
a  pioneer  company  who  lead  its  energies 
into  new  fields  of  conquest  from  age  to 
age.  These  pioneers  are  found  here  and 
there,  —  Samuel  among  the  prophets, 
Elisha  the  Tishbite  outside,  Amos  among 
the  herdsmen  of  Tekoa,  men  who  have 
divine  intuitions,  men  who  hold  counsel 
with  God  for  the  people,  and  whose  spir- 
itual insight  and  discernment  are  beacon 
Hghts  to  the  people  of  God  who  tread  wea- 
rily in  the  dusty  pathways  of  the  world. 
Such  men  are  found  in  the  collective 
church  to-day,  and  it  is  in  their  individual 
and  yet  representative  utterances  that  the 
nation  receives  rebuke  or  encouragement. 
Bishop  White  and  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter 
in  the  Anglican,  and  Archbishop  Hughes 
and  Dr.  Brownson  in  the  Roman  com- 
munion, have  emphasized  the  work  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  the  nation  and  helped 
to  deepen  the  kindly  relations  between  the 


I  JO      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

two.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  and  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  in  an  earlier  day,  and  Dr.  Bushnell 
and  Theodore  Parker  for  a  later  genera- 
tion, have  occupied  a  similar  position,  and 
the  present  bishop  of  New  York  showed 
himself  at  the  recent  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  the  inauguration  of  our  govern- 
ment the  worthy  son  of  Alonzo  Potter  in 
rebuking  the  ascendency  of  political  cor- 
ruption in  public  life.  But  the  church  in 
the  United  States  is  simply  a  coordinate 
power  with  the  state,  having  the  same 
field  of  civil  society  to  work  in,  but  pur- 
suing its  own  course  and  living  for  the 
realization  of  its  own  ends.  Its  jurisdic- 
tion is  moral  and  persuasive,  not  author- 
itative or  judicial.  It  controls  the  nation 
only  as  it  controls  the  individuals  that 
constitute  the  nation.  In  education,  in 
reform,  in  the  treatment  of  crime,  in  the 
direction  of  society,  in  guiding  the  na- 
tional conscience,  the  church  is  a  moral 
and  spiritual  factor  with  no  authority  be- 
yond its  national  majesty  and  its  appeal 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  iji 

to  the  individual.  The  result  is  that  its 
work  lies  almost  exclusively  within  its 
own  sphere  ;  and  when  it  realizes  its  ends 
in  a  large  way,  it  renders  its  best  support 
to  the  nation. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  in  a  few  w^ords  what 
the  essential  character  of  the  American 
religion  is.  It  was  defined  by  that  knight 
of  the  free  lance,  the  late  John  Weiss, 
thus  :  "  America  is  an  opportunity  to  make 
a  religion  out  of  the  sacredness  of  the  in- 
dividual." ^  Of  American  opportunity  he 
says :  '*  Its  religion  and  its  polity  came 
down  together,  quite  unsuspected  by  any 
temporary  forms  or  stages  either,  and  may 
be  found  lying  together  on  the  site  they 
have  reached,  whenever  we  penetrate 
beneath  sectarian  and  democratic  drift."  ^ 
His  cardinal  point  is  that  "  the  sacredness 
of  the  individual  is  the  basis  of  American 
religion."  There  is  to  him  ''nothing  out- 
side of  the  individual."  This  is  what  the 
separatist  says.     The  churchman  is  at  the 

1  American  Religion,  by  John  Weiss,  p.  47.     ^  Ibid.  p.  56. 


iy2      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

other  pole,  while,  between  the  churchman 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  separatist  on  the 
other,  there  are  a  thousand  opinions  which 
cover  with  constant  variations  the  inter- 
vening space.  In  this  kaleidoscope  of 
changing  influences  it  is  difficult  to  for- 
mulate the  distinctive  principles  which  are 
giving  shape  to  American  religious  thought 
and  life.  Each  one  sees  from  his  own 
outlook  and  thinks  that  his  point  of  ob- 
servation is  at  the  centre.  The  outlook 
is  so  large,  and  when  at  last  compre- 
hended includes  so  many  interests,  that 
one  shrinks  from  a  dogmatic  definition  ; 
and  where  religious  beliefs  are  in  process 
of  change,  where  the  historical  standards 
of  the  church  have  been  comparatively  un- 
known, where  the  dogmatic  belief  of  posi- 
tive Christianity  goes  no  further  back  than 
the  Reformation,  where  a  present  working 
organization  is  counted  for  what  it  is  rather 
than  for  its  lineage  of  authority,  where  the 
demand  is  that  simplicity  of  belief  and 
oro:anization    shall    be   the    distinguishing 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  ly^ 

features  of  church  life  and  creed,  it  is  as 
if  the  antecedents  of  Christianity  had  been 
swept  away,  and  all  the  magnificent  contri- 
butions of  its  ages  of  contact  with  human- 
ity had  been  ignored.  In  European  coun- 
tries the  Roman  or  the  Anglican  or  the 
Greek  churches  have  been  maintained  for 
centuries  in  different  nationalities,  and 
have  guided  society  essentially  upon  a 
basis  of  fixed  ecclesiastical  institutions,  so 
that  the  work  of  Christian  organization 
and  of  moral  direction  in  this  case  have 
proceeded  largely  through  traditional  chan- 
nels. In  this  country  our  traditions  at  the 
best  do  not  go  back  further  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ;  to  a  large  extent  the 
fixedness  of  our  leading  religious  bodies 
can  be  traced  no  further  than  a  hundred 
years  ;  and  the  free  development  of  reli- 
gious life  in  American  organizations  is,  so 
to  speak,  the  work  of  yesterday.  Even  so 
late  as  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  as- 
sertion of  the  integrity  of  the  apostolic 
succession,  and  the  claim   that  it  secured 


1^4     T'/;^  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

the  wholeness  and  continuity  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  as  a  divine  institution,  awak- 
ened the  hostility  of  those  who  do  not 
stand  by  the  historical  order.  It  is  only 
within  a  very  short  space  of  time  that 
this  permanent  factor  in  ecclesiastical  life 
has  come  to  be  understood  on  its  merits  as 
a  fundamental  fact  in  church  organization. 
It  was  felt  that  the  ecclesiastical  order 
of  experiment,  crystallized  into  Protestant 
forms  in  America,  had  in  it  the  elements 
of  finality.  To-day  this  confidence  in  the 
authority  of  Protestant  religious  organiza- 
tions is  slowly  disappearing ;  and  there  is 
going  with  it  a  constant  elimination  of  the 
special  theological  dogmas  of  which  it 
was  the  affirmation.  All  the  churches  in 
America  are  to-day  voluntary  and  are  mov- 
ing out  where  they  begin  to  treat  men  and 
creeds  and  even  the  Bible  in  freedom.  It 
is  not  simply  that  the  church-leaders  re- 
fuse to  pronounce  anathemas  upon  all  who 
do  not  belong  to  their  religious  society ; 
even  the  dogmatic  affirmation  is  not  to-day 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  775 

asserted  as  if  it  were  the  final  word  in  reli- 
gion. There  has  passed  over  the  church  a 
widening  of  view  like  that  which  has  passed 
over  the  interpretation  of  the  constitution 
of  the  nation.  Our  political  institutions 
have  received  a  fresh  interpretation  in  the 
hundred  years  of  their  existence,  and  yet 
we  are  under  the  same  government.  All 
ecclesiastical  bodies  and  institutions  have 
likewise  received  a  fresh  interpretation, 
and  yet  each  religious  organization  still 
maintains  its  own  order  and  works  essen- 
tially upon  its  own  lines.  Not  only  this, 
but  the  solidarity  of  American  religion 
finds  expression  to-day  in  the  body  of  the 
churchpeople  rather  than  in  the  ministry 
which  directs  and  instructs  them.  The 
laity  have  always  in  Protestant  churches 
been  the  controlling  force  ;  in  Episcopal 
churches  they  have  divided  that  honor 
with  the  clergy ;  in  Roman  Catholic 
churches  the  laity  have  only  just  begun 
to  assert  their  claim  to  the  management  of 
the  temporalities  of  the  church.     Once  the 


iy6      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

clergy  held  the  authority,  but  to-day  and 
for  the  future,  at  least  wherever  demo- 
cratic institutions  prevail,  the  laity  will 
maintain  a  position  of  coordinate  authority 
with  the  clergy  in  the  direction  of  eccle- 
siastical affairs.  The  individual  in  Ameri- 
can religion  has  been  too  conscious  of  his 
position,  and  the  collective  interests  of 
civil  society  have  been  too  little  regarded. 
The  whole  church  has  been  too  individual 
and  personal  in  its  methods  of  work.  It 
has  shown  too  little  comprehensiveness  in 
its  attitude  toward  the  interests  of  soci- 
ety. It  has  sought  to  make  the  disciple 
rather  than  to  fit  the  disciple  for  the  King- 
dom of  God.  It  has  worked  too  little  by 
institutions  and  too  much  by  the  single 
man.  Its  insularity  rather  than  the  inclu- 
sive and  organizing  instinct  has  been  its 
characteristic  note,  so  that  to-day,  to  a  very 
large  extent,  the  interests  which  are  dis- 
tinctly Christian  in  civil  society,  and  in 
which  Christianity  finds  its  sphere  and  free- 
dom for  active  work  in  behalf  of  humanity, 


The  Church  in  the  Nation.  ijy 

are  so  largely  without  the  church  limits 
that  a  Christian  man  or  woman  must  seem- 
ingly go  outside  the  church  in  order  to 
come  up  to  the  full  discharge  of  Christian 
duty  according  to  the  opportunity  offered 
in  common  life.  It  is  here  that  American 
religion  has  been  checked  in  its  develop- 
ment. Its  field  has  been  too  restricted, 
and  the  present  confession  of  Christian 
leaders  is  that  the  sphere  in  which  the  col- 
lective church  works  must  be  broadened 
until  it  includes  influences  which  reach  the 
whole  of  civil  society. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  point  of  view 
that  the  church  needs  to  be  saved  to-day 
from  a  too  exclusive  and  too  restricted 
service  in  a  free  country.  It  abides  in 
the  use  of  methods  whose  utility  has  been 
exhausted,  and  whose  effect  is  to  stultify 
the  intelligence  of  Christian  people.  There 
is  a  tendency  to  simple  individualism  in 
church  methods,  as  there  is  a  tendency  to 
a  similar  individualism  in  political  meth- 
ods ;    and,  in   a  country  democratic  alike 


iy8     The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

in  church  and  in  state,  there  is  a  rule  of 
mediocrity  which  dampens  the  enthusiasm 
and  obscures  the  hopes  and  ideals,  whether 
of  the  church  or  of  the  state,  which  lift 
men  into  the  higher  walks  and  aims  of  life. 
The  commonness  and  vulgarity,  the  ab- 
sence of  lead  and  the  constant  return  to  the 
point  of  start,  in  our  American  religion, 
are  its  great  drawbacks.  The  attempt  is 
made  in  politics  with  some  degree  of  suc- 
cess to  rally  around  great  working  princi- 
ples. The  same  effort  must  be  made  in  the 
collective  church  if  religion  as  authorized 
in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  fresh 
and  vital  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men. 
There  is  a  power  in  a  multitude  which  is 
not  in  the  individual  ;  there  is  a  power  in 
the  denomination  which,  behind  the  leader, 
makes  him  its  spokesman  and  gives  him 
authority  ;  there  is  a  power  in  the  collec- 
tive church  when  it  works  in  directions 
which  gather  up  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity and  deals  with  them  from  a  cen- 
tral point  of  view  ;  there  is  a  power  in  our 


The  Clmrch  in  the  Nation,       '    lyg 

Christianity  in  this  country  when  it  is  re- 
garded as  the  development  of  a  few  central 
principles,  and  people,  burning  with  the 
desire  to  realize  the  life  of  the  Son  of  God 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  undertake 
to  direct  the  life  of  the  whole  community 
upon  this  simple  yet  comprehensive  basis. 
The  defect  of  American  Christianity  lies 
in  its  individualism,  in  its  hand-to-hand 
methods,  in  the  narrowness  of  its  religious 
beliefs,  and  in  its  slight  grasp  of  the  cen- 
tral truth  of  the  Incarnation.  It  has  not 
been  broad  enough  to  meet  the  demands 
of  civil  society  ;  it  has  not  had  an  organiz- 
ing influence  through  institutions  upon  the 
whole  of  life ;  it  has  not  connected  large- 
ness of  individual  method  with  the  springs 
of  power  which  lie  in  a  concrete,  compre- 
hensive purpose ;  it  has  failed  to  empha- 
size the  authority,  the  vitality,  the  inspira- 
tion which  historical  Christianity,  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  communicates  as 
a  corrective,  as  a  guide,  and  as  an  impulse, 
to    the    movements    of   civil    society.      In 


i8o      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

many  respects  the  American  Church  has 
been  an  inspiration  to  the  American  peo- 
ple, but  it  has  always  been  directed  and 
advanced  upon  a  plane  that  is  below  its 
catholic  inheritance  and  short  of  a  proper 
realization  of  its  power.  In  its  own  field  of 
activity  it  has  been  inferior  to  the  organi- 
zation of  the  political  life  of  the  nation. 
Its  one  chief  defect  has  been  that  it  has 
refused  to  see  in  the  whole  of  modern  so- 
ciety its  proper  sphere  of  action,  and  has 
not  worked  in  this  field  with  the  institu- 
tional authority  which  produces  the  largest 
and  most  permanent  results. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Constrmtive  Unity  in  Religions  Forces, 

T^HE  evils  that  grow  out  of  divided 
-*-  religious  work  are  everywhere  felt. 
The  rivalry  of  churches,  their  competition 
for  membership,  and  the  worldly  side  of 
religious  life  are  the  witnesses  of  a  wrong 
method,  and  where  these  features  are  most 
pronounced  the  spiritual  interest  is  largely 
lost  sight  of.  The  question  which  presses 
with  solemn  earnestness  upon  every  can- 
did Christian  mind  is  whether  unity  of 
action  can  be  reached  in  the  Protestant 
bodies.  The  Protestant  idea  is  the  sepa- 
rateness  of  the  individual ;  the  Catholic 
idea  is  unity  on  the  basis  of  the  Incarna- 
tion ;  and  between  these  two  intervene  the 
affirmations  of  an  historical  experiment 
which  has  been  continued  through  three 
centuries.       Originally   a   protest   against 


1 82      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

the  Church  of  Rome,  the  Protestant  move- 
ment in  modern  society  has  been  both  po- 
litical and  religious,  and  has  been  mainly 
identified  with  individual  liberty  and  the 
growth  of  civil  society.  Protestantism  is 
not,  at  least  on  its  civil  and  political  side, 
the  nesrative  movement  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  insists  that  it  is.  It  is  a  large 
and  positive  factor  in  the  affirmations  of 
spiritual  truth  which  have  been  wrought  out 
by  the  Protestant  Church  in  contact  with 
society.  The  world  could  never  willingly 
go  back  to  the  old  order  when  the  Roman 
Church  had  control  of  western  Europe, 
and  no  reconstruction  of  churches  is  pos- 
sible which  does  not  recognize  the  gains 
which  have  come  as  much  through  the 
spiritual  affirmations  of  the  church  as 
through  the  civil  affirmations  of  the  peo- 
ple in  modern  life.  It  is  an  oversight  to 
think,  from  the  Roman  Catholic  side,  that 
the  dial  of  human  progress  can  be  turned 
backward  through  this  whole  period,  and 
the   Papal    Syllabus    of    1864,   which   de- 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    i8^ 

nounccd  the  principles  on  which  social  life 
is  now  organized,  indicated  very  distinctly 
that  in  any  possible  reconstruction  of  the 
Christian  order,  the  Roman  Church  could 
have  no  immediate  part.  By  its  consent 
to  that  document  it  took  itself  out  of  the 
field,  and  yet,  in  the  larger  view  of  Chris- 
tian unity  upon  an  organic  basis,  the 
Church  of  Rome  must  be  included  as  a 
factor.  The  weakness  of  the  Protestant 
churches  is  that  their  working  methods  do 
not  carry  out  properly  the  spiritual  ideas 
which  they  communicate  as  factors  in  re- 
ligion and  society.  The  imperfect  organ- 
ization of  these  religious  bodies  imparts 
to  them  but  little  power  to  give  weight 
to  their  principles.  Each  of  the  different 
societies,  affirming  something  which,  at 
the  time  of  its  organization,  had  dropped 
out  of  the  current  life  in  the  religious 
community  from  which  it  sprang,  has  left 
out  something  in  its  attempts  at  organic 
development  which  has  impaired  or  limited 
its  distinct  affirmations,  and  should  have 


184      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

been  its  complement  in  the  effort  to  reach 
the  whole  of  human  life.  No  one  likes  to 
say  that  the  different  religious  organiza- 
tions which  are  familiar  to  us  are  not 
Christian  in  their  character  and  in  their 
influence  ;  we  have  no  right  to  think  that 
they  are  not  ;  but  there  is  something  lack- 
ing in  them  to  the  extent  that  no  one  of 
them  could  be  taken  separately  as  furnish- 
ing the  proper  basis  of  a  catholic  or  uni- 
versal Church.  The  Universalists  have  as 
their  principal  tenet  the  salvation  of  all 
mankind  in  Christ,  but  this  affirmation  is 
not  supported  by  the  complementary  the- 
ological truth  which  makes  a  good  working 
church.  The  Baptists  claim  recognition 
for  devotion  and  sincerity,  but  the  stress 
which  they  put  upon  the  mode  of  baptism 
is  greater  than  that  which  they  put  upon 
other  essentials  in  the  Christian  life,  and 
the  result  is  a  one-sided  spiritual  develop- 
ment in  which  important  factors  of  Chris- 
tianity are  omitted.  The  Unitarians  came 
out  of    the  Congregationalists   in  protest 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    i8^ 

against  a  too  arbitrary  conception  of  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God,  but  in  affirming  our 
Lord's  humanity  they  have  left  out  that 
complementary  truth  which  makes  him  the 
Saviour  of  mankind.  The  Presbyterians 
have  crystallized  their  faith  around  certain 
religious  dogmas  which  are  both  affirmed 
and  denied  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
which  stand  in  the  way  of  that  simple 
faith  in  Christ  by  which  the  world  is  to 
be  transformed  into  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
The  Congregationalists,  who  represent  the 
democracy  of  the  Christian  world,  have 
stood  for  the  independence  of  the  local 
church,  which  is  a  truth  of  the  first  impor- 
tance, but  they  have  presented  Christianity, 
to  use  the  words  of  the  late  Dr.  Leonard 
Bacon,  "  as  a  string  of  onions  without  the 
string."  The  Methodists  have  organized 
a  system  of  religious  activity  which  has 
great  and  deserved  merits,  but  they  have 
put  the  whole  stress  of  the  working  church 
upon  a  system  of  emotional  religion  which 
does  not  of  itself  build  up  the  mental  and 


i86      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

spiritual  life  into  a  reasonable  Christian 
faith.  The  Swedenborgians,  emphasizing 
the  church  in  a  new  form,  have  insisted  upon 
universal  morality  with  a  stress  greater 
than  that  to  be  found  elsewhere,  but  they 
have  left  out  of  their  work  the  vital  prin- 
ciple of  divine  grace.  Each  of  these  reli- 
gious bodies  emphasizes  a  truth  so  impor- 
tant that  their  witness  cannot  be  dispensed 
with,  but  each  one  endeavors  to  build,  so  to 
speak,  upon  a  single  point,  the  superstruc- 
ture of  a  complete  working  church.  It  is 
plain  that  each  principle  or  truth  here 
enunciated  has  its  place  in  a  larger  system, 
but  in  the  absence  of  its  complementary 
truths,  which  are  supplied  where  the  cath- 
olic faith  is  taught,  there  is  the  danger  of 
excess,  misleading,  misunderstanding,  to 
the  confusion  of  Christian  ideas;  and  the 
result  must  be  more  or  less  manifested  in 
the  misdirection  of  the  Christian  life.  The 
Anglican  Church  in  its  American  growths 
is  based  upon  the  fundamental  principle  of 
historical   continuity  and   the   recognition 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces,  i8y 

of  the  institutional  character  of  Christian- 
ity, but,  as  it  has  been  mainly  developed  in 
this  country,  it  has  quite  too  little  taken 
the  Catholic  position  to  which  it  is  en- 
titled. It  is  only  here  and  there  that  its 
development  has  answered  to  its  inherent 
character.  It  supplies  the  basis  by  which 
Protestantism  may  escape  from  its  insular- 
ity and  rise  to  the  comprehensiveness  and 
freedom  which  are  demanded  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  a  great  democratic  country 
like  our  own  ;  but  it  can  never  expand  to 
a  dominating  position  or  meet  the  demands 
of  a  work  like  this,  without  the  coopera- 
tion of  every  religious  body  in  America 
which  maintains  any  vital  principle  of 
Christianity,  and  by  virtue  of  that  princi- 
ple is  entitled  to  fellowship  in  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

The  point  is  here  reached  toward  which 
we  are  struggling  with  almost  insuperable 
difficulty.  All  our  religious  bodies  are  in- 
trenched in  organizations  which  have  their 
roots  in  society  and  are  hedged  in  by  pre- 


1 88      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

judices  and  factions  which  give  them,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  vis  iiiertiae.  They  repre- 
sent the  water  of  the  inland  lake  as  con- 
trasted with  the  water  of  the  ocean.  The 
still  level  of  the  one  is  quite  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  constant  struggle  and  free- 
dom of  the  other.  If  the  forces  of  modern 
Christianity  are  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
society  to-day,  and  are  to  be  employed  to 
their  full  extent  in  its  regeneration,  some- 
thing more  must  be  done  than  is  accom- 
plished by  the  present  operation  of  different 
denominations,  however  vigorously  some 
of  them  may  be  administered.  Two  things 
are  needed  —  organic  breadth  and  greater 
freedom  of  action.  The  church  must  be 
as  broad  and  inclusive  as  the  whole  of  the 
society  which  it  is  intended  to  influence, 
and  its  methods  must  be  allowed  the  free- 
dom in  local  action  which  is  demanded  by 
the  character  and  circumstances  of  the  peo- 
ple who  are  to  be  influenced.  None  of  the 
purely  Protestant  denominations  furnishes 
the  basis  on  which  the  whole  community 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.   i8g 

can  be  reached.  Each  addresses  a  class, 
but  does  not  influenc'e  the  whole  of  so- 
ciety. The  Church  of  Rome  to-day  in  the 
United  States,  though  able  to  reach  all 
classes,  chiefly  addresses  its  own  followers. 
The  Anglican  Church  has  emerged  from 
comparative  seclusion  into  competition  with 
the  great  denominations  whose  career  was 
well  begun  when  its  own  future  seemed 
uncertain  ;  but  if  this  communion  has 
waited,  like  the  tortoise,  to  catch  up  with 
Achilles,  it  has  waited  to  some  purpose, 
and  its  position  to-day  as  the  historical 
channel  of  Christianity  to  the  English- 
speaking  people  is  of  grave  importance. 
In  numbers  or  enthusiasm,  or  in  actual 
agencies  of  work,  it  is  easily  surpassed  by 
other  organizations,  and  it  has  never  yet 
reached  in  any  large  way  the  virile  popu- 
lation that  constitutes  the  bulk  of  the 
American  people ;  but  in  its  place  as  a 
channel  of  historical  and  institutional 
Christianity  to  the  English-speaking  peo- 
ple  it   occupies   a   unique    position.       Le 


I  go      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

Maistre  has  said  that  the  Anglican  Church 
has  a  divine  office  •  to  perform  in  modern 
religious  life.  It  might  do  for  Protestant 
people  what  the  Church  of  Rome  has  de- 
clined to  do.  It  might  furnish  for  the  dis- 
membered fragments  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity a  rallying  point  by  which  their 
tendency  to  individualism  could  be  ar- 
rested, and  by  which  historical  Christian- 
ity, with  all  its  conservative  strength  of 
influence,  could  be  applied  to  the  broaden- 
ing and  strengthening  of  the  religious  life 
of  modern  times.  This  was  said  with  ref- 
erence to  the  place  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  modern  Europe.  It  may  be  said 
with  essentially  the  same  truthfulness  in 
regard  to  the  reaching  of  constructive 
unity  among  the  religious  forces  of  the 
United  States. 

In  this  country  the  Anglican  Church 
is  an  institution  as  broad  as  the  state, 
and  it  regards  society  with  as  inclusive  a 
purpose  as  the  state  regards  it.  It  main- 
tains the  continuous  order  of  the  ministry. 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces,    igi 

the  great  Christian  traditions,  the  Christian 
sacraments,  and  the  idea  of  the  church 
as  the  extension  of  the  Incarnation  of 
Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  world.  Local 
as  it  may  seem  in  its  work,  stripped  of 
whatever  may  seem  adventitious  in  a  state 
church,  it  has  the  same  institutional  prin- 
ciple and  the  same  constructive  way  of 
looking  at  the  community  as  a  whole 
which  has  been  the  characteristic  of  the 
Church  of  England  since  its  first  dealing 
with  the  English  people.  It  stands  on 
the  principle  of  transmitting  and  protect- 
ing and  applying  the  essential  principles 
of  Christianity  to  human  society  under 
the  operation  of  the  laws  of  common  life. 
Its  principles  are  unchanging,  but  the 
interpretation  of  its  dogmas  may  change 
from  age  to  age,  and  its  methods  are  con- 
formable to  the  demands  of  the  field  where 
its  work  lies.  What  the  Anglican  Church 
stands  for  in  its  larger  operation  is  that 
it  so  organizes  Christian  people  in  civil 
society  that   they   work   freely   under   its 


192      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

inspiration  and  guidance  till  it  becomes  a 
proper  leavening  power  in  Christian  civili- 
zation. Wherever  this  communion  has 
worked  freely  and  constructively  under  its 
normal  principles  of  action,  it  has  accom- 
plished two  things.  It  has  inspired  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole  with  a  higher  purpose, 
and  it  has  maintained  among  men  the 
principle  of  personal  responsibility  to  God. 
The  principal  thing  to  be  thought  of  is 
that  the  episcopal  organization,  when  ap- 
plied to  the  ordering  and  development  of 
Christian  life,  is  here  what  it  was  in  the 
early  church.  It  is  a  regulative  principle. 
It  approaches  society  as  a  whole.  It  sees 
the  community  in  the  light  of  the  Incar- 
nation, and  it  organizes  Christian  society 
in  such  a  way  that  the  light  of  the  Incar- 
nation is  diffused  through  the  community 
at  large,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  di- 
rected to  the  individual  mind  and  heart. 
In  other  words,  the  episcopal  organization, 
regarded  simply  from  the  institutional 
point   of   view,   provides  for  the  freedom 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.   19^ 

and  variety  of  method  by  which  the  whole 
of  society  may  be  reached  and  directed  as 
if  the  sole  aim  and  purpose  of  its  members 
were  to  become  inheritors  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 

This  view  has  been  very  ably  set  forth 
by  Dr.  James  Martineau  in  England.  It 
is  that  the  Church  of  England  can,  without 
changing  its  standards,  so  extend  its  prac- 
tical operation  by  the  principle  of  inclusion 
that  all  existing  Christian  life  and  move- 
ment shall  find  its  rightful  place  within 
the  national  church.  There  are  many 
practical  difficulties,  even  in  England,  in 
the  acceptance  of  such  a  comprehensive 
principle  ;  but  if  Christian  statesmanship 
is  ever  to  be  put  in  the  place  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal management,  and  the  practice  of  right- 
eousness is  to  be  regarded  as  important 
as  rightness  of  belief,  it  is  the  way  out  of 
present  difficulties  which  seems  most  rea- 
sonable and  along  which  the  difficulties 
may  disappear  as  the  good  of  society  be- 
comes more  and  more    the   aim  and  the 


ig4       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

end  of  the  working  Christian  Church. 
The  opposition  to  the  institutional  idea 
of  religion,  which  is  the  large  way  of 
stating  the  principle  of  episcopal  organi- 
zation, is  too  often  the  fruit  of  a  small 
jealousy,  as  if  the  episcopal  clergy,  by 
virtue  of  their  regular  orders,  cast  con- 
tempt upon  the  authority  of  those  who 
minister  in  other  religious  societies.  It 
is  cruel  to  draw  this  inference ;  it  is  not 
fair  to  the  facts  of  the  case ;  the  work 
before  Christian  men  in  America  to-day, 
under  whatever  name  or  order  they  may 
be  associated,  is  too  serious  for  this  small 
jealousy.  No  one  who  has  given  this  sub- 
ject proper  attention  has  the  least  desire 
to  undervalue  the  integrity  of  the  work 
which  any  Christian  minister  is  doing, 
whatever  may  be  his  authority.  It  is  not 
in  this  way  that  constructive  unity  is  to 
be  reached.  The  point  before  one  is  that 
a  working  principle  must  be  adopted  which 
is  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  organize 
the  church  so  that  it  shall  reach  the  whole 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    795 

of  society,  while  the  freedom  of  the  local 
church  shall  be  fully  protected  and  main- 
tained. This  principle  was  adopted  by 
the  apostles,  not  more  for  the  sake  of 
maintaining  the  historical  succession  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands  than  for  the  dealing 
with  society  in  such  a  way  that  the  church 
could  do  its  work  most  efficiently.  The 
recognition  of  this  principle  is  far  more 
important  to-day  than  it  was  in  the  early 
church,  because  the  multiplicity  of  life  to- 
day is  greater,  and  the  application  of  Chris- 
tian truth  to  social  conditions  is  infinitely 
more  diverse. 

Working  freely  under  a  large  central 
organization  seems  to  be  the  only  way 
in  which  the  whole  of  society  may  be 
brought  under  the  control  of  the  Church 
of  Christ.  What  is  wanted  is  not  the 
denial  of  the  rights  of  existing  churches, 
but  such  an  organization,  like  that  of  the 
associated  charities  in  London  or  Boston, 
that  the  existing  institutions  of  religion 
shall  properly  assist  one  another  in  cover- 


ig6       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

ing  the  field  where  they  exist,  and  in  doing 
their  work  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
benefit  of  our  kind.  When  the  American 
House  of  Bishops  issued  their  famous  dec- 
laration of  1886,  in  which  they  acknowl- 
edged four  principles  to  be  essential  to 
constructive  unity,  and  in  which  they 
affirm  the  integrity  of  the  episcopal  or- 
ganization to  be  something  which  must 
be  at  the  bottom  of  any  effective  unity 
among  Protestant  Christians,  they  acted, 
not  with  the  thought  of  increasing  the 
influence  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  but 
under  the  conviction  that  the  proper  or- 
ganization of  Christian  society  could  alone 
be  reached  by  the  adoption  of  this  prin- 
ciple. How  it  could  be  adapted  to  exist- 
ing circumstances  it  was  not  for  them  at 
that  time  to  suggest ;  but  it  was  the  part 
of  a  wise  Christian  statesmanship  to  ad- 
vance this  affirmation,  and  to  rise  to  the 
conception  of  the  whole  of  American 
Christianity  under  the  control  of  a  prin- 
ciple  which,   broad   in  its  practical  opera- 


Constructive  Unity  in  Retigious  Forces,   i  gj 

tion,  would  recognize  the  position  of  each 
congregation  as  distinctly  and  protect  its 
rights  as  faithfully  as  they  are  guarded 
under  its  present  ecclesiastical  direction, 
reducing  the  competition  that  hindered  or 
affected  its  action,  and  directing  the  work- 
ing of  the  parish  to  broader  and  better 
aims,  while  giving  to  the  pastors  such  es- 
sential authority,  not  of  a  denomination, 
but  of  the  undivided  Church  of  Christ, 
that  in  every  city  and  town  and  village 
and  hamlet  throughout  the  country  the 
work  of  Christ  would  go  forward  *'  in  unity 
of  spirit,  in  the  bond  of  peace,  and  in 
righteousness  of  life."  The  severest  con- 
demnation of  the  church  to-day  is  found 
in  its  actual  operation,  in  the  city,  town, 
and  even  the  country  village.  It  repre- 
sents the  waste,  the  confusion,  and  often 
the  destruction  of  Christian  effort  amid 
the  rivalries  of  passing  factions  which 
claim  to  represent  the  Church  of  Christ, 
causing  people  of  the  world  to  stand  aside 
and  exclaim,  not  as  the  heathen  did  in  the 


198      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

apostolic  days,  "  How  these  Christians  love 
one  another  ;  "  but  "  How  effectually  these 
Christian  organizations  defeat  the  work 
of  the  Christ  whom  they  claim  to  serve." 

The  adoption  of  the  regulative  principle 
which  is  here  suggested  as  the  proper 
basis  of  constructive  unity  involves  so 
much  of  detail  and  implies  so  great  a 
willingness  on  the  part  of  all  Christian 
organizations  to  put  aside  their  denials, 
and  not  only  stand  by  their  affirmations 
but  accept  the  affirmations  of  others,  that 
it  seems  as  if  the  millennium  might  come 
before  the  result  here  suggested  is  reached ; 
but  if  the  organized  life  of  the  denomina- 
tion is  disregarded  and  the  feelings  and 
convictions  of  Christian  people  at  large 
are  consulted,  it  will  be  found  that  Chris- 
tian society  is  ripe  almost  beyond  be- 
lief for  such  a  consummation  as  is  here 
outlined.  Doctrinal  distinctions  to-day 
are  losing  their  weight  in  the  desire  to 
bring  men  to  Christ  by  practical  methods. 
The  piety  of  the  hour  is  the  substitution 


Constnictive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces,     igg 

of  charity  for  self-will.  Every  pastor  in 
our  cities  and  towns  and  villages  finds  that 
his  work  counts  for  more  in  the  com- 
munity, that  the  work  of  the  salvation  of 
men  is  more  easily  accomplished,  and  that 
the  improvement  of  society  is  more  easily 
secured,  in  proportion  to  his  readiness  to 
work  with  other  pastors  for  the  attainment 
of  a  common  purpose.  The  differences 
between  the  religious  societies  are  inap- 
preciable when  compared  with  the  untold 
opportunities  for  the  amelioration  of  hu- 
man life  and  the  building  up  of  religious 
character  which  are  open  to  those  who  are 
willing  to  improve  them.  There  is  an 
earnestness  and  a  yearning  and  an  appeal 
alike  of  the  heart  and  of  the  head,  greater 
than  has  before  been  witnessed,  for  a  new 
construction  of  Christian  society.  The 
barriers  of  denominational  life  seem  like 
an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  larger  unity 
of  practical  Christian  effort  which  is  de- 
sirable ;  and  yet  no  result  that  will  stand 
for  the    next   generation    and  can   be   re- 


200     The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

garded  as  fundamental  and  permanent,  can 
be  reached  in  which  the  good  common 
sense  of  the  secular  world  does  not  sustain 
the  spiritual  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the 
people  of  God. 

The  work  here  outlined  is  not  to  be  done 
in  a  day,  but  it  is  the  distinct  religious 
want  of  our  time.  The  organization  of  all 
our  churches  upon  a  basis  of  unity  in  essen- 
tials which  will  make  their  common  work 
practicable  is  the  constant  prayer  of  all 
Christians  ;  and  it  is  more  and  more  possi- 
ble as  each  day  reveals  the  spiritual  draw- 
ing together  of  those  who  think  and  feel 
alike  in  these  things.  Only  the  ecclesi- 
astical officials  and  the  sectarian  organi- 
zations which  support  them  stand  in  the 
way  of  this  coming  together.  The  Epis- 
copal Church,  though  it  may  contribute 
a  vital  element  to  the  reconstruction  of 
modern  Christianity,  has  itself  to  learn  a 
lesson  from  its  associated  organizations 
in  this  country.  The  churches  are  like 
the  individuals  addressed  by  St.  Paul  in 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    201 

his  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  They  are 
members  one  of  another,  and  to  use  St, 
Paul's  words,  ought  to  say  :  "  Having  gifts 
differing  according  to  the  grace  that  was 
given  to  us,  whether  prophecy,  let  us 
prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of 
our  faith  ;  or  ministry,  let  us  give  ourselves 
to  our  ministry ;  or  he  that  tcacheth,  to 
his  teaching ;  or  he  that  exhorteth,  to  his 
exhorting :  he  that  giveth,  let  him  do  it 
with  liberality  ;  he  that  ruleth,  with  dili- 
gence ;  he  that  sheweth  mercy,  with  cheer- 
fulness. Let  love  be  without  hypocrisy. 
Abhor  that  which  is  evil  ;  cleave  to  that 
which  is  good.  In  love  of  the  brethren 
be  tenderly  affectioned  to  one  another ;  in 
honor  preferring  one  another  ;  in  diligence 
not  slothful ;  fervent  in  spirit ;  serving  the 
Lord  ;  rejoicing  in  hope  ;  patient  in  tribu- 
lation ;  continuing  steadfastly  in  prayer  ; 
communicating  to  the  necessities  of  the 
saints;  given  to  hospitality."  This  is  a 
solution  in  which  the  whole  of  civil  society 
may   be   brought   under   the   constructive 


202       The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

direction  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  in 
which  its  entire  strength  may  be  applied 
to  the  incarnation  of  spiritual  life  in  the 
souls  of  men,  for  an  avoidance  of  the 
present  waste  and  confusion  of  Christian 
effort.  Federation,  with  concessions  all 
around  to  the  principle  of  institutional 
order  here  enunciated,  joined  to  the  rising 
to  Christian  statesmanship,  the  seeing  eye 
to  eye,  and  the  willingness  to  overcome 
self-will  alike  in  the  individual  and  in  the 
ecclesiastical  body,  is  the  immediate  step 
towards  constructive  unity. 


Dr.  Brio-ors,  who  is  a  distinsruished  Broad 
Churchman  among  Presbyterians,  has  writ- 
ten an  important  book,^  in  which  he  aims 
to  show  what  the  drift  of  Protestantism 
has  been  during  the  last  two  centuries, 
especially  how  far  the  American  Presby- 
terian   Church    has    departed    from    the 

1   Whither?    A    Theological  Question  for  the   Times. 
By  Charles  Augustus  Briggs,  D.  D. 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    20 j 

Puritan  theology  of  the  Westminster  con- 
fession, and  how  far  a  similar  departure 
has  been  reached  in  the  other  Protestant 
bodies  of  the  United  States.  Probably 
no  other  theologian,  unless  it  were  Dr. 
Fisher  of  New  Haven,  could  be  named 
who  has  made  so  thorough  a  study  of  this 
subject  as  Dr.  Briggs  has,  and  his  work 
deserves  attention,  because  it  treats  with 
authority  a  subject  on  which  it  is  impor- 
tant to  have  something  more  than  vague 
impressions  to  guide  one.  Persons  who 
follow  religious  opinion  in  New  England 
are  quite  conscious  of  the  whither  of  its 
religious  movements,  but  are  not  able  to 
speak  for  the  Presbyterian  and  the  Re- 
formed churches  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  What  is  to  be  noted  in  them 
all  is  that  they  have  unconsciously  drifted 
from  their  old  standards,  and  are  moving 
forward  toward  a  less  dogmatic  and  more 
comprehensive  statement  of  religious  be- 
liefs. 

The  details  of  this  movement  are  well 


204      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

stated  by  Dr.  Briggs  from  the  strictly  the- 
ological point  of  view.  In  the  first  two 
and  the  last  two  chapters  of  his  work  he 
breaks  away  from  his  Presbyterian  limi- 
tations, and  looks  upon  the  entire  Chris- 
tian Church  in  this  country  in  its  whole- 
ness and  in  its  unity,  and  his  book  is 
symptomatic  of  the  feeling  and  thought 
which  pervade  every  Christian  community. 
Without  proposing  a  method,  Dr.  Briggs 
takes  such  a  survey  of  the  existing  reli- 
gious bodies,  that,  from  his  point  of  view, 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  the  feasi- 
bility of  a  movement  for  unity  which  would 
in  a  short  time  reduce  the  ecclesiastical 
conflicts  in  the  American  churches  to  a 
minimum  and  bring  about  substantial 
unity  in  their  methods  of  operation.  He 
shows  that  the  drift  of  all  these  com- 
munions is  away  from  those  features  which 
constitute  their  difference  from  one  another 
and  toward  the  opinions  which  they  hold 
in  common.  In  matters  of  doctrine  near- 
ly all  of  them  are  broadening  their  faith. 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    20^ 

The  Puritan  view  of  the  atonement  is 
passing  away ;  the  Calvinistic  decrees  are 
no  longer  set  forth  ;  the  verbal  inspiration 
of  the  Bible  is  mainly  a  belief  of  the  past, 
and  the  substantial  facts  won  by  the  higher 
criticism  will  soon  be  commonly  received  ; 
the  old  doctrine  about  the  last  things  is 
fleeing  away  like  the  darkness  before  sun- 
rise, and  is  being  replaced  everywhere  by  a 
broader  and  better  statement  of  religious 
opinion  concerning  the  future  life.  This  is 
the  gain  in  the  theological  world,  and  this 
is  the  summary  of  what  Dr.  Briggs  sets 
forth  in  his  timely  and  significant  volume. 

There  is  another  side  to  this  matter,  to 
which  Dr.  Briggs  gives  less  attention.  In 
his  chapter  on  '*  Barriers  "  he  lays  down 
some  of  the  difficulties  which  now  stand 
in  the  way  of  Christian  union.  The  first 
is  the  insistence  on  submission  to  a  central 
ecclesiastical  authority  claiming  the  divine 
rio-ht  of  government.  The  second  has 
been  the  subscription  to  elaborate  creeds. 
The  third  is  the  insistence  upon  uniformity 


2o6      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

of  worship.  The  fourth  is  the  barrier  of 
traditionaUsm,  the  set-back  of  organiza- 
tions. All  these  barriers  have  been  raised 
by  existing  sections  of  the  Christian  world, 
and  at  the  present  time  they  are  all  more 
or  less  broken  down.  If  Christian  union 
were  actually  set  about,  it  is  believed  that 
the  Roman  Church,  as  well  as  the  English, 
would  contrive  some  way  by  which  the  Prot- 
estant ministry  could  be  legitimated  with- 
out accepting  all  that  is  implied  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope  or  in  the  apostoli- 
cal succession.  The  Protestant  churches 
are  already  willing  to  recede  from  their 
elaborate  creeds.  The  Church  of  Eng:- 
land  would  not  do  to-day  what  it  did  in 
1662,  because  the  Puritan  party  then  de- 
manded greater  freedom  in  worship.  The 
difficulties  that  grow  out  of  the  formal 
ecclesiasticism  of  Christian  bodies  are  not 
insuperable,  and  would  easily  disappear  if 
any  one  of  them  should  have  the  courage 
of  its  convictions  and  make  a  clean  breast 
of  its  weakness  in  isolation  from  the  whole 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    2oy 

church.  The  American  bishops  at  Chicago 
in  1886  almost  touched  this  point  of  reli- 
gious heroism  in  their  famous  declaration, 
as  Dr.  Briggs  is  at  pains  to  show.  The 
whole  issue  to-day  is  like  a  game  of  chess. 
All  parties  are  ready,  or  nearly  ready,  for 
a  central  move,  and  are  restrained  from 
action  because  each  one  is  afraid  to  con- 
fess its  own  sins  in  the  face  of  the  Chris- 
tian world. 

This  is  the  upshot  of  the  treatment  of 
religious  movement  in  which  Dr.  Briggs 
expresses  his  sense  of  what  is  now  possi- 
ble in  our  Christian  societies.^     He  does 

1  The  following  passages  from  his  volume  show  that 
he  is  fully  aware  of  the  demands  of  constructive  unity : 
*'  If  there  is  anything  in  a  national  religion  and  the  unity 
of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  high  time  that  Ameri- 
can Protestantism  should  rise  to  the  situation,  grasp  the 
problem,  and  endeavor  to  solve  it.  The  ideals  of  Chris- 
tian unity  and  a  national  religion  are  rising  into  greater 
prominence  in  American  Christianity,"  (page  168.)  In 
his  preface  he  says  :  "  The  barriers  between  the  Prot- 
estant denominations  should  be  removed  and  an  organic 
union  formed.  An  alliance  should  be  made  between 
Protestantism  and  Rjmanism  and  all  other  branches  of 


2o8      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

not  so  much  formulate  the  plan  as  state 
the  terms  on  all  sides  which  would  enter 
into  the  shaping  of  such  a  plan.  This  is 
modesty,  indeed  ;  but  there  is  one  feature 
which  he  conspicuously  overlooks,  though 
he  comes  very  near  to  stating  it.  It  is 
practically  that  the  liberty  of  action  which 
he  seeks  in  a  comprehensive  unity  of  the 
different  American  churches  cannot  be 
reached  without  a  system  of  federation  or 
organic  unity,  or  comprehensive  direction, 
which  comes  from  a  central  administration. 
It  is  here  that  the  halt  is  most  decided. 
The  question  is  whether  the  liberty  and 
freedom  which  are  essentials  in  the  Amer- 
ican Protestant  churches  can  be  met  by 
such  an  enlargement  in  methods  of  prac- 
tical government  on  the  part  of  the  Roman 
or  Anglican  churches  as  would  secure  to 

Christendom.  The  Lambeth  Conference,  in  its  pro- 
posals for  Christian  unity,  points  in  the  right  direction. 
The  Church  of  England  is  entitled  to  lead.  Let  all 
others  follow  her  lead  and  advance  steadily  toward 
Christian  Unity,"  (page  xi.) 


Constructive  Unity  in  Religious  Forces.    2og 

the  Protestant  bodies  their  proper  develop- 
ment as  institutions  without  impairing  the 
independence  and  freedom  to  which  they 
are  accustomed.  The  case  is  as  broad  as 
it  is  long,  and  the  question  of  Christian 
unity  lies  here  as  in  a  nutshell.  A  more 
practical  conception  of  what  Christianity 
is  in  modern  life,  and  what  it  has  wrought, 
is  needed  by  both  the  Roman  and  the  An- 
glican communions  before  they  can  take 
the  organic  weakness  out  of  the  Protestant 
churches ;  and  the  conviction,  that  the 
freedom  of  the  individual,  valuable  as  it 
is  in  the  Protestant  churches,  reaches  its 
best  results  under  wise  direction,  must  be 
far  more  universal  than  it  is  now,  if  any 
such  spiritual  leadership  is  consented  to 
in  a  large  way.  The  problem  in  the  church 
is  like  the  problem  between  capital  and 
labor  in  the  field  of  industry,  or  the  prob- 
lem in  modern  civilization,  which  is  to 
bring  into  working  harmony  the  upper  and 
the  under  forces  which  are  the  natural 
complement  of  one  another. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

Unity  through  Working  Agreements. 

'T^HERE    are    two   ways    of    studying 
-*-     Christian  unity  at  the  present  time. 
One  is  the  analytical,  in  which  the  exist- 
ing  condition   of   ecclesiastical    society  is 
considered,  with  the  effort  to  make  such 
an  analysis  of  the  creeds  of  churches  and 
such  an  estimate  of  their  agreements  that 
the  work  of  practical  unity  may  at  once 
f  begin.     The  other  is    the    synthetic   pro- 
I   cess,  in  which    the    present    ecclesiastical 
;    societies  are  not  disturbed,  but  are  treated 
as  the  factors   of   a   more  comprehensive 
view  of  the  relation  of  the  Christian  to  the 
secular  world.      The  analytical  treatment 
brings  one  at    once    against  the  snags  of 
deep-rooted  controversies,  and  the  hope  of 
a  solution  of  the  problem  of  a  restored  unity 
is   lost   amid    the    traditional    differences 


Unity  through  Working  Agreements,     211 

which  now  form  bars  of  separation.  If 
you  trace  these  differences  to  their  origin, 
you  discover  that  they  grew  out  of  the 
variations  of  allowable  opinions  which  in 
many  instances  have  been  precipitated 
into  dogmas  that  hold  the  hearts  of  Chris- 
tian people  within  hard  and  fast  lines. 
They  now  have  the  character  of  an  origi- 
nal part  of  Christianity,  and,  like  the  bar- 
nacles that  have  grown  on  the  sides  of  a 
ship,  are  not  easily  removed.  There  is 
little  hope  of  relief  from  the  schisms  of 
Christendom  in  this  direction.  The  only 
unity  to  which  men  can  turn  is  the  unity 
of  spiritual  agreements.  If  Christianity  is 
ever  to  be  the  leaven  of  our  civilization, 
in  the  sense  in  which  it  was  the  leaven 
of  society  in  the  brightest  days  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  it  must  be  a  larger 
factor  in  the  direction  of  life  than  it  is 
now.  The  Holy  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  has  slowly 
faded  away  till  it  is  only  the  remembrance 
of  a   splendid    ideal    of    the    relations   of 


212      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

church  and  state  which  was  never  fully 
realized.  It  is  impossible  to  realize  it 
to-day.  The  men  who  build  castles  in  the 
air  may  work  a  long  time  to  harmonize 
the  Roman,  the  Greek,  the  Anglican,  and 
the  Protestant  churches  so  that  they  shall 
be  of  one  mind,  but  they  have  grown  too 
far  apart  and  have  their  roots  too  far  back 
in  the  history  of  the  race  easily  to  retrace 
their  steps  and  work  together  as  one  fold 
under  one  shepherd.  The  ecclesiastical 
structure  which  is  to  be  built  out  of  their 
mutual  concessions  in  outward  forms  is 
not  likely  soon  to  be  raised.  Another 
point  of  view  must  be  taken  if  society 
is  to  derive  large  benefit  from  Christianity, 
and  its  great  compulsions  are  to  be  better 
realized  among  men. 

The  unity  that  is  within  reach  in  this 
world  is  an  ethical  and  a  spiritual  unity, 
not  a  unity  that  addresses  the  outward 
eye  and  dwells  in  a  temple  made  by  hands. 
It  is  as  difficult  for  Christian  people  to 
conceive  of  unity  after  this  kind  as  it  was 


Unity  through  IVorkhig  Agreements,     21  ^ 

for  the  Jews  to  believe  that  the  Prince  of 
the  House  of  David  was  the  lowly  Naza- 
rene,  the  Son  of  Mary.  The  main  reason 
why  this  outward  unity  is  not  soon  to  be 
realized  is  that  the  recognition  of  the  per- 
sonal element  in  modern  life  renders  it 
seemingly  impossible.  The  conception  of 
Christianity  which  obtained  in  the  early 
Christian  ages,  and  which  is  the  dominant 
idea  in  the  Roman  Church,  has  already 
attended  its  own  funeral.  It  is  the  regal 
idea,  the  belief  that  the  individual  withers 
and  that  the  world  is  governed  by  insti- 
tutions in  which  the  will  of  man  disappears 
as  a  personal  force.  The  regal  idea  has 
its  place  in  the  church ;  the  realization 
of  Christianity  in  modern  society  apart 
from  institutions  which  organize  life  into 
collective  power  is  like  trying  to  make  a 
rope  of  sand  ;  and  yet  nothing  is  accom- 
plished to-day  which  does  not  take  into 
account  the  part  which  the  individual  plays 
as  a  member  of  the  community.  The  men 
who  belonged  to  Caesar's  household  in  the 


214      T^^^  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

early  church  and  the  men  who  beheve  in 
Christianity  to-day  with  certain  reserves 
of  agnosticism  see  life  from  almost  oppo- 
site points  of  view,  and  no  advance  to- 
wards Christian  unity  can  be  made  which 
does  not  take  this  difference  of  position 
into  account.  The  church  is  still  an  in- 
stitution and  acts  upon  society  most  be- 
neficently in  its  institutional  character, 
but  it  is  composed  of  persons  who  have 
been  trained  in  the  atmosphere  of  modern 
life  and  who  are  able  to  do  their  own 
thinking.  The  element  of  authority  and 
the  element  of  free  thought  and  individual 
responsibility  dwell  in  the  same  mind  and 
heart.  They  have  to  be  harmonized  in  the 
individual. 

This  is  the  task  which  presents  itself  to 
the  modern  state  as  truly  as  to  the  modern 
church.  The  nation  to-day  imparts  its 
strength  to  the  people  and  gives  them 
political  unity,  but  it  returns  only  what  it 
receives  from  them,  though  it  is  returned 
not   in  individual  influence  but    in  collec- 


Unify  through  Working  Agreements.     21^ 

tive  power.  The  church  to-day  is  in  one 
sense  nothing  more  than  a  collection  of 
people  who  stand  up  to  be  counted  as  the 
kingdom  of  God  in  the  world,  but  what 
it  is  as  an  organized  body,  with  its  tradi- 
tions and  its  inheritance  of  Christian  or- 
ganizations, is  something  vastly  different 
from  what  it  is  to  the  individual  believer. 
The  individual  has  his  place  in  both  politi- 
cal and  religious  society,  but  the  individual 
alone  is  not  the  nation  or  the  church.  And 
yet  in  all  our  plans  of  life  the  individual 
factor  is  taken  into  account,  and  nothing 
is  accomplished  until  the  individual  will, 
in  its  collective  form,  is  behind  it.  Author- 
ity and  reason  are  the  two  poles  between 
which  the  electrical  forces  of  the  will  are 
in  constant  play.  Authority  in  the  church 
is  a  great  factor,  but  it  no  longer  has 
dominion  over  the  individual ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  reason  alone  is  inadequate  to 
maintain  the  conservative  and  constructive 
forces  of  religion.  The  two  go  hand  in 
hand  in  our  best  modern  life.     In  all  that 


21 6       The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

belongs  to  the  future  of  ihe  Christian 
church  there  are  and  will  be  these  two 
factors,  authority  and  right  reason.  They 
cannot  be  separated,  and  in  any  changes 
that  are  yet  to  take  place  they  are  the 
factors  that  cannot  be  overlooked.  The 
difficulty  of  realizing  Christian  unity  is 
that  in  outward  forms  one  party  insists 
upon  the  surrender  of  the  reason  to  author- 
ity, while  the  other  insists  upon  the  ab- 
solute authority  of  reason.  The  situation 
is  such  that  formal  unity  is  reached  only 
after  such  a  change  has  passed  over  the 
active  religious  life  of  the  world  as  we 
have  no  right  to  expect.  The  earlier  Chris- 
tian ages  witnessed  the  domination  of  the 
church  as  an  institution  ;  the  next  step  in 
religious  evolution  was  the  individual  com- 
ing to  self-consciousness;  the  third  step 
is  to  be  the  union  of  the  two  in  a  larger 
social  development.  It  is  institutional 
action,  modified  by  the  freedom  of  the  in- 
dividual, which  is  to  mark  the  future  devel- 
opment of  the  Christian  Church. 


Unity  through  Working  Agreements.     21  y 

It  is  plain  that  little  or  nothing  is  to  be 
expected  on  the  ecclesiastical  side.  The 
power  of  the  church  in  modern  society  is 
ethical  and  spiritual.  It  is  not  in  a  Papal 
Bull ;  it  is  not  in  a  formal  creed  ;  it  is  not 
necessarily  in  apostolical  succession  ;  it  is 
not  in  following  the  letter  of  Scripture. 
The  strict  ecclesiastical  relations  of  the 
churches  to  one  another  will  be  for  many 
generations  chiefly  what  we  see  them  to- 
day. What  the  churches  are  in  the  way  of 
help  to  society  comes  mainly  from  the  mag- 
nitude and  strength  of  their  agreements. 
In  times  past  they  have  mostly  empha- 
sized their  differences,  their  antagonisms. 
If  they  should  yield  to  the  present  desire 
to  magnify  their  agreements,  how  many 
articles  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  would  be 
denied  }  If  they  should  come  together  on 
the  basis  of  the  moral  law,  how  many  would 
be  without  the  fold .?  If  it  should  be  al- 
lowed that  the  ''  eternal  hope  "  may  be  the 
light  of  those  who  had  no  chance  in  this 
world,  what  ethical  comfort  would  be  given 


2i8      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

to  those  who  have  been  better  acquainted 
with  the  limitations  than  with  the  possibil- 
ities of  the  present  life  !  If  the  eternities, 
felt  alike  in  law  and  conscience,  come  like 
the  shadows  of  night  over  every  soul  with 
solemn  import,  what  sympathy  flows  like  an 
electric  current  through  the  lives  of  men 
most  disparate  in  their  moral  and  spiritual 
character  !  When  you  look  at  life  on  its 
ethical  and  spiritual  side  there  is  a  wonder- 
ful tenderness  of  feeling  in  all  men  toward 
the  humanity  of  which  each  one  forms  a 
part.  If  we  are  the  moral  wreck  of  God's 
creation,  yet  what  capacities  of  a  God-like 
order  still  remain  !  No  man  is  without  in- 
terest to  his  fellows  on  the  moral  and  spir- 
itual side.  When  the  Christian  churches 
are  looked  at  in  their  collective  strength  as 
our  established  agencies  for  bringing  men 
into  the  closer  service  of  God,  how  small 
and  insignificant  do  their  differences  ap- 
pear !  The  organization  may  be  closer  to 
the  primitive  standard  in  one  case  than  in 
another,  but   the  body  is   more  than  the 


Unity  through  Working  Agreements.     21  g 

raiment,  and  where  the  fruits  of  spirit  are 
manifest  in  Christian  character,  we  are  not 
to  measure  the  institutional  order  of  the 
church  by  too  strict  a  rule.  When  one 
transfers  himself  in  imagination  from  this 
planet  to  a  central  position  where  he  can 
see  the  revolutions  of  all  the  planetary 
systems  and  can  obtain  a  relative  view  of 
the  vast  whole,  the  things  peculiar  to  our 
own  planet  sink  into  insignificance  ;  and 
when  men  rise  above  the  present  factions 
of  the  universal  church  and  see  its  opera- 
tion as  a  comprehensive  and  yet  personal 
force  impressing  itself  on  humanity  every- 
where, its  ethical  and  spiritual  power  is 
such  that  one  loses  his  thought  in  trying 
to  express  it  in  terms  of  language.  It  is 
in  this  higher  view,  which  is  as  legitimate 
as  the  purely  ecclesiastical  view,  that  there 
are  reconciliations  which  do  not  appear  in 
actual  society.  The  moral  and  spiritual 
forces  are  seen  in  their  collective  capacity, 
and  the  vast  operations  of  the  tendency 
toward  righteousness    are   taken    at   their 


220      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

true  value.  In  this  light,  the  world  is  bet- 
ter than  it  seems,  and  there  is  a  substan- 
tial unity  of  purpose  amid  a  thousand  dis- 
agreements. 

It  will  be  said  that  this  is  a  broader 
view  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth 
than  the  facts  will  warrant.  It  is  cer- 
tainly the  ideal  view,  but  it  is  not  without 
important  confirmations.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  see  life  in  the  light  of  the  highest  moral 
constructions,  and  it  is  only  in  this  way  of 
looking  at  the  state  of  righteousness  in 
this  world  that  one  can  grasp  it  as  a  whole. 
There  is  something  in  the  glib  way  in 
which  ecclesiastical  experts  size  up  the  dif- 
ferent religious  families  that  is  utterly  ab- 
horrent to  a  spiritual  mind.  But  when  the 
relations  of  the  various  parts  of  the  uni- 
versal church  are  considered  in  their  prac- 
tical contact  with  society,  it  will  be  seen 
that  in  the  next  phase  of  its  development 
the  Christian  Church  must  follow  lines 
of  action  that  will  increase  its  agreements. 
It   has   already  been    intimated    that    the 


Unity  through  WorJAng  Agreements.     221 

future  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  lies 
in  the  general  renewal  of  society.  It  is  not 
denying  its  character  as  a  witness  to  the 
Incarnation,  nor  its  power  as  the  revealer 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  men,  to  insist  upon  its 
renewing  agency  in  improving  the  condi- 
tions of  modern  life.  These  social  changes 
are  the  evidence  that  the  spiritual  King- 
dom of  God  is  becoming  coextensive  with 
the  life  of  humanity,  and  that  Christ  is 
taking  the  place  that  belongs  to  him  as  its 
head. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  the  col- 
lective church  approaches  mankind.  One 
part  of  its  work  is  to  prepare  the  individ- 
ual for  another  world  by  an  act  of  faith 
on  his  part  and  by  a  spiritual  application 
of  the  efficacy  of  Christ's  death  to  the 
soul  through  the  sacraments.  Through 
faith  or  through  sacraments,  or  through 
both,  the  individual  finds  the  church  the 
stepping-stone  to  a  renewed  life.  The 
appeal  to  the  individual  is  constant ;  it  is 
here  that  the  church  takes  Christ's  place 


222      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

and  makes  its  personal  efforts  in  the  win- 
ning of  souls.  But  this  is  not  its  whole 
work.  The  church  is  one  of  the  three 
great  institutions  of  society.  It  has  to  do 
with  the  family  and  the  state.  It  is  a  great 
factor  in  our  daily  life,  and  the  more  thor- 
oughly democratic  our  civilization  becomes 
the  more  the  conservative  institutions  of 
society  are  appealed  to  for  an  influence 
which  was  less  needed  when  there  was  less 
freedom  in  human  relations.  The  Chris- 
tian communities  carry  weight  as  ethical 
and  spiritual  forces.  They  have  the  family 
under  their  jurisdiction  ;  they  have  the  edu- 
cation of  the  young  under  their  charge; 
they  are  the  guardians  of  public  morals  ; 
they  are  monitors  of  the  state  in  its  exer- 
cise of  protection,  in  its  view  of  public 
trusts,  in  the  maintenance  of  reverence 
and  honor  and  virtue.  As  one  looks  at  our 
American  life  to-day,  the  different  denom- 
inations bring  to  bear  upon  the  congrega- 
tions which  belong  to  them,  ahd  through 
them    upon   the    common    society   of   the 


Unity  through  Working  Agreements.     22} 

country,  the  highest  sort  of  moral  and  spir- 
itual influence.  They  give  tone  and  char- 
acter to  city  and  town  and  village.  There 
is  no  religious  society  which  could  well  be 
spared.  Collectively,  this  is  the  mightiest 
influence  that  exists  in  the  modern  world. 
It  is  seen  in  the  midst  of  its  infirmities  ; 
there  is  hardly  a  Christian  body  that  comes 
up  to  its  ideal ;  but  there  is  in  the  aggre- 
gate a  powerful  sympathy  between  its  mem- 
bers and  the  great  commonwealth  of  souls 
upon  whom  they  act  in  their  capacity  as 
fellow-citizens.  The  peculiarities  of  the 
religious  body  are  often  more  noted  than 
its  structural  influence,  but  when  it  is  re- 
garded as  a  positive  institution  it  is  al- 
ways found  to  be  a  centre  of  ethical 
power.  The  things  that  differentiate  reli- 
gious people  from  one  another  are  here 
expressly  ignored  because  they  are  merely 
hindrances  to  the  positive  benefit  which 
each  denomination  communicates  to  so- 
ciety ;  they  do  not  prevent  that  sum  of 
influences    in    daily    life    by    which    the 


224      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

Christian  church  blesses  and  sanctifies  the 
world. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  while  the 
present  opportunities  of  reaching  the  in- 
dividual are  greater  than  they  ever  were 
before,  the  difficulty  of  finding  the  lives 
of  people  preoccupied  with  affairs  is  still 
greater.  The  old  ways  of  doing  religious 
work  are  not  the  ways  through  which  the 
people  are  now  best  reached.  All  the 
churches  are  largely  fossilized  by  clinging 
-  to  statements  of  doctrine  and  following 
methods  of  work  which  are  not  in  harmony 
with  the  ethical  and  spiritual  movement 
of  the  people.  There  is  more  activity  to- 
day in  the  churches,  but  there  are  also 
more  unchurched  people  than  ever  before. 
The  field  widens  visibly  from  day  to  day. 
You  put  out  your  hand  and  seem  to  touch 
all  mankind.  The  religious  societies  are 
constantly  reporting  openings  for  mis- 
sionary service  which  did  not  exist  half  a 
century  ago.  The  industrial  life  of  the 
people  has  so  changed  that  men  are  more 


Unity  through  Working  Agreements.     22^ 

open  to-day  for  the  institutional  study  of 
religion  than  they  once  were.  There  is  a 
flowing  together  of  the  forces  which  con- 
stitute our  civilization.  There  is  the  feel- 
ing that  the  right  must  triumph,  that  the 
individual  is  to  divide  more  with  his  neigh- 
bor, that  the  state  is  to  be  controlled  in 
its  moral  action  by  the  presence  of  a 
higher  power,  and  that  the  family  and  the 
public  school  and  the  political  life  are  parts 
of  a  great  whole  out  of  which  each  one 
is  to  draw  a  greater  satisfaction.  This  is 
often  crudely  expressed,  but  it  is  the  under- 
current of  thought  that  runs  through  the 
nation.  There  is  the  consciousness  that 
Christianity  in  its  social  action  is  some- 
thing broader,  larger,  more  human  and 
more  divine  than  it  has  yet  been  under- 
stood to  be.  There  is  the  conviction  that 
the  destiny  of  man  on  this  earth  is  more 
intimately  connected  with  it  than  has  been 
believed.  The  conviction  grows  that  the 
Christian  Church  is  entering  in  the  United 
States,  and  wherever  else  society  is  free, 


226      The  Church  in  Modern  Society 

upon  a  practical  development  along  social 
and  ethical  lines  which  have  not  before 
been  followed  with  the  vigor  that  is  now 
possible.  The  strength  of  this  conviction  is 
such  that  the  religious  body  which  will  not 
work  for  the  highest  and  broadest  interests 
of  humanity,  as  they  are  distributed  in  our 
social  connections,  is  held  to  be  untrue  to 
the  essentials  of  a  Christian  Church.  It 
has  come  to  be  the  aim  of  the  great  divi- 
sions of  the  Christian  family,  though  it 
is  yet  very  imperfectly  realized,  to  make 
our  life  in  this  world  more  nearly  the  pat- 
tern of  what  human  life  in  its  best  estate 
ought  to  be.  Ethical  and  spiritual  inter- 
ests have  taken  a  new  position  in  the  con- 
ception of  what  constitutes  character  and 
what  makes  happiness.  This  is  felt  in 
the  reconstructions  of  theology,  and  even 
more  in  the  ethical  reorganization  of  so- 
ciety. It  is  felt  in  the  tumbling  down 
of  the  ecclesiastical  barriers  which  have 
divided  one  company  of  Christians  from 
another.     There  is  a  process  going  on  in 


Unity  through  Working  Agreements.     22y 

the  churches  analogous  to  that  which  is 
felt  among  the  nations.  It  is  everywhere 
understood  that  the  people  are  the  rulers 
to-day ;  whatever  may  be  the  outward 
form  of  the  government,  this  is  the  un- 
varying fact ;  and  there  is  growing  up  be- 
tween governments  the  consciousness  of 
a  common  life.  There  is  not  a  day  in 
which  the  press  does  not  record  some 
fresh  evidence  of  this  change.  Govern- 
ments have  established  international  rela- 
tions ;  they  hold  by  the  things  that  make 
for  peace.  This  is  the  order  of  the  world. 
Men  are  coming  to  stand  upon  this  po- 
litical platform  everywhere.  The  nations 
are  as  one  nation  ;  humanity  is  as  one 
man.  The  commerce  between  nations, 
the  exchanges  of  thought  and  courtesy, 
the  reciprocity  of  affection  which  is  the 
outgrowth  of  the  touch  of  the  hand,  have 
established  new  conditions  which  furnish 
the  basis  for  a  hi^rher  civilization.  What 
has  come  without  observation  in  the  po- 
litical and  social,  has  also  come  as  silently 


228      The  Church  in  Modern  Society, 

in  the  religious  world.  The  leaders  of 
the  great  established  churches  may  stand 
as  far  apart  as  the  antipodes  from  one 
another,  but  they  cannot  prevent  the  in- 
crease of  practical  sympathy  between  those 
who  call  God  their  Father  and  Christ  their 
Saviour.  The  lines  of  a  broader  and  better 
religious  life  have  already  been  laid  down 
in  our  common  society.  The  people  are 
a  thousand  times  nearer  to  one  another 
spiritually  than  their  religious  leaders 
would  have  us  believe.  The  heart  of  the 
Christian  Church  beats  as  the  heart  of  one 
man ;  it  is  more  than  ever  — • 
"True  to  the  kindred  points  of  heaven  and  home." 
It  is  often  said,  when  the  church  is  re- 
garded from  this  point  of  view.  Why  not 
unite  at  once  and  work  together  .^  The 
vested  interests  and  traditions  of  our 
Christian  communities  prevent  this,  but 
they  do  not  forbid  and  cannot  prevent 
the  meeting  of  brethren  of  all  names  on 
the  great  free  demesne  of  modern  soci- 
ety, where  the  yet  remaining  conquests  for 


Unity ^  through  Working  Agreements,     22g 

the  human  race  are  to  be  secured.  It 
seems  almost  Hke  a  lack  of  faith  to  tell 
people  to  go  to  work  along  the  lines  of 
their  affections,  instead  of  first  agreeing 
to  believe  together ;  but  the  heart  has  as 
much  to  do  with  the  operation  of  the 
Christian  religion  as  the  head,  and  where 
the  reason  interposes  difficulties  the  heart 
sweeps  them  away  with  a  large  broom.  It 
is  through  the  channels  of  cooperation  for 
the  industrial,  social,  and  personal  im- 
provement of  our  fellow-citizens  that  we 
are  to  take  steps  that  lead  to  the  enlarge- 
ment of  personal  character  and  bring 
people  together  in  righteousness.  It  is 
here  that  the  words  of  the  Master  come 
true  :  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me." 

Ecclesiastical  unity  in  the  Church  of 
God  in  this  world  may  or  may  not  be 
reached  in  the  course  of  time.  It  seems 
far  off  to-day.  It  may  be,  as  in  so  many 
other  things  where    man    plans  and  God 


2}0      The  Church  in  Modern  Society. 

disposes,  that  the  divine  realization  is  to 
be  different  from  what  men  fondly  expect. 
But  there  are  certain  lines  of  action  about 
which  there  can  be  no  dispute.  If  the 
great  denominations  of  Christendom  work 
in  the  social  field  where  there  is  a  suffi- 
cient call  for  all  their  energies  and  secure 
to  us  better  homes,  better  schools,  better 
laws,  better  conditions  of  life,  better  en- 
vironment for  the  individual,  greater  free- 
dom, more  healthful  action,  and  the  re- 
moval of  an  increasing  number  of  the  nega- 
tions and  obstacles  that  are  in  the  way  of 
the  free  growth  of  body  and  soul,  there 
will  be  such  growing  love  toward  men 
inspired  by  such  love  toward  God,  that 
all  Christians  will  lose  sight  of  their  differ- 
ences in  the  discovery  that  their  agree- 
ments are  the  sufficient  basis  on  which 
society  in  this  world  can  be  so  organized 
as  to  have  in  itself  a  foretaste  of  the  satis- 
factions of  the  world  to  come. 


INDEX. 


Adam,  the  leader  of  the  family,  2. 
Arnold,   Dr.,    principle    of,   in 
Rugby  School,  151. 

Bishops,  Declaration  of  Ameri- 
can House  of,  in  1886,  196. 

Briggs,  Dr.,  statement  of  Pro- 
testant drifts  and  theological 
positions  in  his  book  entitled 
Whither,  noticed,  202-205; 
his  attitude  toward  unity,  207- 
209. 

Christianity,  outside  the  state 
in  its  early  hisiory,  19,  20;  col- 
ored by  paganism,  20 ;  perma- 
nent influence  of,  65  ;  its  com- 
prehensive form  missed  in  this 
country,  76  ;  a  spent  force,  81  ; 
special  defects  in  American, 
i7g;  how  it  can  leaven  our  civ- 
ilization, 211  ;  not  worth  any- 
thing outside  of  institutions, 
213. 

Church,  its  growth  from  the 
family,  i  ;  its  institutional  char- 
acter, 2  ;  why  it  has  ruled,  13  ; 
Jewish,  a  theocracy,  14;  its 
history,  how  written,  15  ;  its 
sanction,  18 ;  how  developed 
in  America,  33,  35  ;  its  defect, 
36;  its  characteristic  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  38 ;  in  disintegra- 
tion, 39  how  different  from 
the  state,  50 ;  problem  before 
it,  52  ;  not  changed  toward  so- 
ciety as  the  state  has  been,  56, 
57;  what  it  is  to-day,  58;  its 
ethical  relation  to  the  commu- 
nity, 65;  its  successful  method, 
66;  its  work  and  method,  66 ; 
its  broader  identification  with 
life,  68;  sphere  of  man's  spir- 
itual education,  75  ;  its  compre- 
hensiveness,  76;    what  it  has 


to  recover,  80;  conservator  of 
divine  movement  in  the  world, 
84 ;  its  aim  and  purpose,  85 ; 
its  breadth,  86;  its  position  in 
modem  life,  88;  spiritual  me- 
thods of,  90-109;  related  to 
social  order,  135,  136 ;  what  it 
lacks  in  the  United  States,  137, 
138;  compared  in  its  methods 
with  the  state,  139;  its  place 
as  a  moral  authority,  142;  in 
the  spiritual  guidance  of  social 
life,  144  ;  drawing  ilie  masses, 
147-153;  development  in  the 
nation,  159;  in  America,  vol- 
untary and  free,  174;  methods 
of  work  too  restricted,  177; 
weakness  of  Protestant  church- 
es, 183;  what  each  one  lacks, 
185-189;  the  Anglican,  in  its 
American  growths,  186;  what 
it  supplies  to  Protestantism, 
187;  the  organic  breadth  and 
freedom  needed  to-day,  188; 
its  distinct  office,  190-193  ;  the 
working  principle  of,  194,  195  ; 
what  Episcopal,  has  to  learn, 
200;  regal  idea  of,  213;  what 
marks  its  future  development, 
2i6-22i  ;  growing  convictions 
about  the  American,  225. 
Church,  Collective,  a  combina- 
tion of  Christian  organizations, 
48 ;  its  transitional  relation  to 
modern  society,  54 ;  difference 
between  its  factors  in  Europe 
and  America,  55  ;  its  place  in 
economic  and  industrial  life, 
142  ;  what  it  does  for  the  state, 
165  ;  how  it  approaches  man- 
kind, 221. 

Ewald's  History  0/  Israelhrm^'S 
out  strongly  Jewish  theocracy, 
74. 


232 


Index, 


Family,  the  beginning  of  social 
order,  i  ;  its  part  in  social  in- 
stitutions, 9,  id;  and  church 
among  the  Jews,  19;  imper- 
fectlj:  developed  to-day,  31; 
how  influenced  by  the  church, 
124-133;  idea  of  its  wholeness 
lost,  128. 

God,  how  present  in  the  world, 
69;  method  of  revelation,  71; 
how  knowu  in  the  church,  73; 
his  immanence  in  society,  78. 

Hegel,  definition  of  religion,  156. 

History,  its  value  in  tracing  the 
growth  of  institutions,  7,  8 ; 
how  it  is  to  be  studied  in  insti- 
tutions, 23,  24. 

Home,  the  unit  of  society,  1 1 1. 

Incarnation,  basis  of  Catholic 
idea  of  unity,  18 1. 

Individual  man,  his  sphere  in- 
creased by  the  Reformation, 
28,  29  ;  his  growth  faster  than 
that  of  institutions,  58 ;  what 
the  church  does  for  him,  94,  95. 

Institutions,  how  far  divine,  2, 
5 ;  their  functions,  3  ;  their 
place  in  history,  4,  5  ;  difference 
between  them  and  personality, 
62. 

Keblf,  his  manner  at  baptism  of 
children,  99. 

Laity,   what   their    place  is   in 

different  churches,  175,  176. 
Le  Maistre  quoted,  190. 
Leaders,  spiritual,  169,  170. 

Man,  origin  of,  93. 

Marriage  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, 114. 

Martineau.  Dr.  James,  47;  his 
view  of  the  Church  of  England, 
193. 

Modern  life,  its  weakness,  31-37. 

MuLFORD,  Dr.,  his  Nation  quot- 
ed, 155-160. 


Nation,  its  moral  character,  161 ; 
relation  to  spiritual  leaders, 
169. 

Potter,  Bishop,  rebukes  politi- 
cal corruption,  170. 

Papal  Syllabus  of  1864,  its  ef- 
fect on  Christian  unity,  1S2. 

Protestantism,  not  negative  in 
civil  and  political  hfe,  182. 

Reformation,  begins  the  mod- 
ern world,  25  ;  opposed  to  the 
institutional  order  of  society, 
26-30 ;  its  principle,  34  ;  its 
great  defect,  35. 

Religion,  American,  defined  by 
John  Weiss,  171  ;  its  great 
drawbacks,  178;  its  defect  in 
its  individualism,  179;  too  nar- 
row for  its  field,  iSo. 

Religion  and  society,  their  sep- 
aration historically  traced,  41. 

Sacraments,  their  personal 
value,  102. 

School,  place  of  the  public,  10; 
the  support  of  democratic  ideas, 
1x6-124. 

Society,  the  source  of  primitive, 
in  institutions,  i ;  democratic, 
4;  beginning  of  modern,  11  ; 
civil,  its  sphere  in  modern  life, 
27  ;  church's  mission  to,  not 
yet  realized,  58 ;_  its  need  to- 
day, 60;  institutional  idea  of, 
overlooked,  81. 

State,  its  relation  to  family  and 
school,  9  ;  a  moral  and  spiritual 
organism,  72. 

Unity,  Christian,  must  recognize 
institutional  character  of  Chris- 
tianity, 187  •,  what  the  Angli- 
can Church  contributes  to  it, 
190-193;  Dr.  Briggs  _  on,  207  ; 
reached  through  working  agree- 
ments, 211;  ethical  and  spir- 
itual in  this  world,  212;  formal, 
216;  how  practically  realized 
now,  22;,  230. 


BOOKS    ON    THEOLOGY. 


ALLEN. 

The  Continuity  of  Christian  Thought.  By  Prof. 
A.  V.  G.  Allen.  A  Study  of  Modern  Theology  in  the 
Light  of  its  History.     New  Edition.  lamo,  gilt  top,  ^2.00. 

A  fresh  and  striking  survey  of  the  whole  course  of  Christian  specu- 
lation. —  British  Quarterly  Review  (London). 

A  singularly  noble  book.  — Christian  Union (I^Iqvi  York). 

DIMAN. 

The  Theistic  Argument  as  Affected  by  Recent 
Theories.  By  Prof.  J.  Lewis  Diman.  Edited  by  Prof. 
George  P.  Fisher  of  Yale  College.     Cfown  8vo,  ^2.00. 

These  lectures  are  planted  in  the  very  centre  of  all  that  is  richest, 
noblest,  and  most  important  in  human  speculation.  They  trace  these 
movements  with  the  hand  of  a  master  strong  in  himself,  and  yet 
stronger  in  the  possession  of  a  profound  famiUarity  with  the  thoughts 
of  those  who  have  had  the  most  influence  on  human  opinion.  —  I  fide- 
pendetU  (New  York). 

GUNSAULUS. 

The  Transfiguration  of  Christ.     By  Rev.  Frank 

Wakeley  Gunsaulus.     i6mo,  gilt  top,  ^1.25. 

From  beginning  to  end  it  is  an  elevated  march  of  thought.  Its 
pathway  is  on  a  high  spiritual  plane.  There  is  real  tonic  in  its  atmos- 
phere.    Every  page  is  suggestive.  —  Christian  Union  (New  York). 

HERRICK. 

Some  Heretics  of  Yesterday.  By  Rev.  Samuel 
E.  Herrick.     Crown  8vo,  ^1.50. 

Beginning  with  Tauler  and  the  Mystics,  Mr.  Herrick  follows  the  light 
of  religious  liberty,  as  it  was  borne  onward  through  the  centuriesby 
Wiclif  and  Hus,  Savonarola,  Latimer  and  Cranmer,  Melanchthon, 
Knox  and  Calvin,  Coligny,  William  Brewster,  and  John  Weslev.  .  .  . 
The  lectures  are  charming  in  style,  generous  in  thought,  warrn  with 
feeling,  and  illuminated  with  spiritual  life.  — Worcester  Spy. 

MULFORD. 

The  Repubh'c  of  God.     An  Institute  of  Theology. 
By  Rev.  Elisha  Mulford.    8vo,  ^2.00. 

We  do  not  remember  that  this  country  has  lately  produced  a  specu- 
lative work  of  more  originality  and  force.  .  .  .  The  book  is  a  noble 
one,  —  broad-minded,  deep,  breathing  forth  an  ever-present  conscious- 
ness of  things  unseen.  It  is  a  mental  and  moral  tonic  which  might 
do  us  all  good.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

The  most  important  contribution  to  theological  literature  thus  far 
made  by  any  American  writer.  —  The  Churchman  (New  York). 


HUNGER. 

The  Freedom  of  Faith.     A  Volume  of  Sermons 
with  an  Essay  on  "  The  New  Theology."     By  Rev.  Theo- 
dore T.  Hunger.     i6mo,  gilt  top,  ^1.50. 
Mr.  Munger  is  a  capital  preacher.  .  .  .  The  sermons,  as  such,  de- 
serve to  rank  with  the  noblest  productions  of  modern  times ;  they  have 
the  large  sympathies  of  Beecher,  the  exegetical  tact  of  Robertson,  the^ 
literary  finish  of  Vaughan,  and  the  daring  of  Maurice.   .  .  .  Really 
•  fresh,  suggestive,  and  inspiring.  —  British  Quarterly  Review, 

The  Appeal  to  Life.     New  Sermons.     i6mo,  gilt 
top,  i?x.5o. 

This  is  a  remarkable  book  .  .  .  worth  study,  both  on  accouiit  of 
its  elevated  tone,  its  deep  thoughtfulness,  and  its  sympathetic  insight. 

—  The  spectator  (London). 

PARKS. 

His  Star  in  the  East.     A  Study  in  the  Early 

Aryan  Religions.     By  Rev.  Leighton  Parks.     i2mo,  gilt 

top,  ^1.50. 

These  views  of  the  writer  on  the  best  methods  of  conducting  our 
foreign  mission  work  are  admirable.  Indeed,  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Parks's 
book  is  extremely  broad  and  liberal.  It  should  be  put  into  the  hands 
of  every  missionary  and  teacher  who  is  starting  forth  to  do  the  Mas- 
ter's work  in  the  East.  —  Boston  Trattscript. 

ROYCE. 

The  Religious  Aspect  of  Philosophy.     By  Prof. 

JOSIAH  ROYCE.      I2mo,  gilt  top,  ^2.00. 

We  are  doing  but  scanty  justice  in  this  dry  analysis  to  the  amplitude 
and  vigor  of  Dr.  Royce's  argument.  Indeed,  we  feel  that  we  are 
stripping  it  of  all  that  is  characteristic  and  fascinating,  of  the  plenitude 
of  familiar  illustration,  the  fearlessness  of  ratiocination,  and  the  lam- 
bent play  of  humor  which  mark  the  book  as  one  among  a  thousand. 

—  The  A  merican  (Philadelphia). 

WRIGHT. 

Ancient  Cities,  from  the  Dawn  to  the  Daylight. 

By  Rev.  William  Burnet  Wright.    i6mo,  gilt  top,  ^1.25. 

Attractive  and  valuable.  ...  It  uses  with  excellent  skill  fruits  of 
the  latest  archaeological  and  historical  study,  is  picturesque  in  style 
and  warmly  evangelical  in  sentiment.  We  do  not  know  where  we  have 
seen  the  Kingship  of  Christ  more  vividly  illustrated  in  a  use  of  his- 
torical and  present  fact,  as  related  to  the  supremacy  of  our  Lord  in 
the  world's  thought  and  life,  than  we  find  done  in  the  closing  pages 
of  this  very  attractive  book.  —  The  Standard  (Chicago). 

The  World  to  Come.     Sermons,  with  a  Lecture 

on  Christmas.     i6mo,  ^1.25. 

No  one  can  read  a  single  sermon  without  having  impressed  upon 
him  the  reality  and  nearness  of  things  which  the  eye  sees  not.  —  The 
Congregationalist  (Boston). 

HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN  &   CO. 

4  Park  St.,  Boston  ;  11  East  17TH  St.,  New  York. 


Date  Due 

•mmmim»^ 

0 

1- 

f) 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

7 


